Conflicting Needs at Md. School

The Hutchisons object to placing their son in Rock Creek because they believe he would receive more punitive behavioral controls and less instruction. Michelle Hutchison cites a letter from her son's pediatrician that bolsters their view.

"They just want to move him to a place where they're going to lock him in. The seclusion room is essentially a padded room," she said. "That's not a solution."

The Hutchisons were preparing for their hearing this week when the school system obtained the 10-day restraining order. The system said it had to move rapidly before someone else was hurt.

Bill's father said he believes the system filed for the temporary restraining order because the family has challenged its educational plan for their son and because of personal friction between his wife and some staffers over the past year.

"At this point, I think they just want her backed off any way they can. They just don't want you to stand up to them," said William Hutchison, 35, a supervisor in a carpentry company.

The conflict echoes a recent Supreme Court case involving a Montgomery County couple that challenged the school system's special education program for their son.

The parents argued that the burden of proof should fall to the schools when individualized education plans are disputed, a view opposed by educators who feared that the costs and potential litigation would balloon. The court ruled that parents, like all plaintiffs in legal proceedings, must bear the burden of proof.

The law spells out the measures that schools can take to deal with disruptive special education students, and it guarantees that parents can challenge those decisions. It also provides for expedited hearings on removing a child from class for long periods or finding a more appropriate setting, and it recognizes that a school might go to court.

The U.S. Education Department does not have data on how often schools have gone to court over disciplinary issues involving disabled students, a spokesman said. Little data are available on how often a restraining order is used for emotionally or physically disabled students. Educational experts say the practice appears to be rare but has increased after several high-profile episodes of school violence, such as the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School outside Denver.

Monday morning at the Hutchisons' house, Michelle was getting ready to take Bill to school on his first day back after a one-day suspension. Although she had been up all night working, she planned to spend the day with him.

Bill was glued to the screen of a portable DVD player showing "The Doodlebops," a Disney show popular with preschoolers. He was eating yogurt and playing with a rolled-up piece of gift wrap while his sister and two brothers raced through breakfast and prepared to catch their school bus.

When his mother asked him to turn down the sound, he refused, saying he would not be able to hear it. His father asked him again, and Bill complied.

A little while later, he picked up a toy electric guitar and strummed.

"That guitar was quite a mistake. What was Santa thinking?" Michelle said while going through paperwork from the school. She asked Bill to turn the guitar down, too.

"Well, M-o-o-o-om," Bill said, whining, and he fiddled with the knobs until it became softer.