Lakay Roberts, Texas 5-Year Old With Cerebral Palsy, Denied Use Of 'Unsafe' Walker At School

A Texas mother is planning to file a lawsuit against New Caney Independent School District after her daughter's special education director said the 5-year-old could no longer use her walker at school, according to KRIV-TV.

Lakay Roberts has cerebral palsy and needs the walker to move around -- she's also used the device at the school for the last two years. Kristi Roberts, the girl's mother, recorded the conversation with Kings Manor Elementary School special education director Gary Lemley and posted it to YouTube.

"Basically she can't use the walker because we don't think it's safe," Lemley says in the recording. When Roberts asks why it isn't safe, Lemley responds, "I just told you. We don't feel it's safe any longer."

The school decided the walker is unsafe after Lakay fell in the parking lot because her walker collapsed. Her mother likens the incident to a student falling on the playground, asking Lemley in the recording whether he asks students who fall during recess to take their shoes off and buy new ones.

"No, m'am," Lemley says. "They're not using walkers."

Elise Hough, CEO of special needs nonprofit Easter Seals Houston, tells KPRC-TV that the school district has an obligation to provide a safe school environment for Lakay and other students.

"You don't tell somebody you trip on your feet so chop 'em off to come to school, you're safer in a wheelchair," Hough said. "For a person with a disability, their assistive technology is like an extension of their body."

Support for Laka and her case has been pouring in online since Roberts posted the recording. But all Roberts wants, KRIV-TV reports, is change.

"I want Gary Lemley to resign. I'd like an apology, and I would like her to use her walker again and get things changed in the special education department," Roberts said.

In a statement last week, New Caney ISD officials declined to comment specifically on the case, instead focusing on privacy issues:

It is important to know that the video and audio recording at issue was not sanctioned or authorized by the District to be released for public dissemination. Furthermore, the District does not agree that the recording at issue here is a complete recounting of the entire underlying confidential discussion and is therefore neither representative nor accurate towards explaining the District's ongoing efforts to serve its students."

Comments

[LeeTilson]

04:36 PM on 04/20/2012

Let's persuade the New Caney schools to Let Lakay Walk. For action info, see http://bit.ly/LetLakayWalkBlog -
Join us at - http://on.fb.me/LetLakayWalkFacebook -
Send message to Dir of Special Ed. Gary Lemley. Send simple message, one sentence: "Let Lakay Walk" to Fax [phone], or e mail http://bit.ly/LetLakayWalkEmail
IMPORTANT - Copy message to [e-mail] send suggestions to [e-mail]

[lauren kling]

03:55 PM on 04/01/2012

We live in a sick,sick country now.

[GraceNotes]

11:35 AM on 03/31/2012

Perhaps she has outgrown the walker that was designed for a smaller child, and it is time to provide her with a new model.

[1SG Ret]

12:22 PM on 03/30/2012

Wouldn't the girl need both the wheelchair and the walker at school?

[Marci Connor Rustici]

12:20 PM on 03/30/2012

How DARE this official speak to a parent this way. He has no business working with children. I hope he if fired. You go Mom! Get your daughters voice heard!

[Joe The Nerd Ferraro]

04:40 PM on 03/29/2012

How are people who are in education so incredibly STOOOPID?

[DevonTexas]

01:36 PM on 04/01/2012

my thoughts exactly.

[pjordan]

08:19 PM on 04/01/2012

they are administrators...they need very little classroom experience to get the job and usually ran out of the classroom as fast as they could because they couldn't handle it.

[marieulrich]

03:36 PM on 03/29/2012

This looks like a standard Kaye pediatric walker appropriate for this child's age/height. They are collapsable and need to be in the "locked" position when in use. Whoever let the child walk without making sure it was in the locked position would be at fault. Most likely this is a liability issue and the school is taking the path of least resistance. The fact that the school doesn't have an aide for both a physically impaired student and to watch for this sort of thing is suspect. PI kids who can walk need to do so as for the many health benefits it provides.

[marieulrich]

03:05 PM on 03/29/2012

The school is a tad unrealistic. You don't just go to Wal-Mart and get a pediatric wheelchair. You have to have an evaluation, wait 6+ months (they are special order) assuming your insurance pays for it and then pay an addtional $1000 as a copay. Also, wheelchairs can provide many unsafe issues under the control of young children for the rider and the children around them. If the school is concerned about a physically impaired child's safety, they need to provide an aide.
The type of walker is the standard one for pediatric use. I doubt serious injury results from it collapsing - I've seen it happen. The ages of 4-6 are crucial for physically impaired children to work on their walking skills if they have them.

[Jeanie Watts]

11:48 AM on 03/29/2012

HILARIOUS that they say the recording wasn't sanctioned or authorized when you CLEARLY hear Lemley telling her to make sure she gets it on tape!!! The bottom line is the disctrict knows they are in deep ca-ca and are grasping at straws to defend themselves. KUDOS to this mother for not taking it and being bullied into conforming to their asenine decision making. God Bless you Lakay !!!

[Laura Demeuse]

08:34 AM on 03/29/2012

People need to learn that disability is natural...every single person on this earth will have a disability at some point in their life if they live long enough. And since ALL people are or will be disabled, isn't it prejudice and oppressive to treat this girl as if she is different than anyone else? Why is it still legal to segregate those poor souls who were unlucky enough to deal with disability early in their lives? The sickening part is we (as a society) don't even give them seperate but equal... we give them nothing (unless you count the right to be poor on SSI the rest of their lives), we ONLY take things away...like their right to walk.

[Laura Demeuse]

08:34 AM on 03/29/2012

This case is blatant discrimnation, plain and simple. The school district doesn't like how this girl looks and are making excuses to try to hide her. If this girl doesn't continue walking she will lose the ability forever. The school will be responsible for "disabling" her, and I mean that in the sense of there's a disabled car on the side of the road. Right now she can get around by herself and they want her stalled. I know people with CP who have knocked their teeth out trying to learn to walk and wear their toothless smile as a badge of honor. Why on earth would anyone take the privlegde, the FREEDOM of walking away from an individual?? Humans are made to MOVE! When a person is immobile for a significant amount of time they get all kinds of preventable health problems, aspiration pnemonia, bowel impactions, urinary tract infections, gastro esophegeal reflux disease, skin breakdown/bed sores, not to mention the lost ability to move their joints freely. If you don't use it you lose it. Is this really what we want to do to a FIVE year old?

[Laura Demeuse]

08:32 AM on 03/29/2012

My kid fell on the playground yesterday, I guess we had better get her a wheel chair too! I don't get this "safe" thing everyone is so obsessed with. Kids fall; kids who have never walked before fall MORE. It is how they learn to walk...what is unsafe about that?

[deelynn]

02:21 PM on 03/28/2012

Take them to Due Process! This is ridiculous. LRE is what every child deserves. If they cannot give that to LaKay, then they are not doing their job as special educators. As a special educator myself, this makes me sick!

[JulzyA]

01:07 PM on 03/28/2012

If the mother would take the time and effort to get her child a better walker instead of wasting the time & energy attacking the school there wouldnt be an issue. Never said no walker, just that the one she had was unsafe. And if it had already collapsed once on her, seems like the school has a valid point. Makes you wonder about some parents. Priorities people.

[JJaycee]

11:28 PM on 03/29/2012

It's no wonder you have no fans. Most walkers are collapsible so they can fit into cars, airplanes, etc. when not in use.

[Shannon Irwin]

11:53 PM on 03/29/2012

Who cares how many imaginary HuffPo friends a person has? LOL - that's lame! JulzyA made a relevant point. Just because you don't agree with her it doesn't mean you have to insult her... as much as anyone could be insulted by something so petty as the number of HufPo friends they have.

[JulzyA]

09:18 AM on 03/30/2012

well golly gee you're so smart! My point was that a collapsible walker is only supposed to collapse when you want it to, not randomly so that your child falls in the parking lot, which was why the principal was concerned and the parent should be as well

[haleymoss]

01:21 AM on 04/01/2012

Insurance companies often only cover certain models, etc, and are already expensive. This might be the best one the mother can afford, which is certainly not her fault.

[lifeblogger5]

07:27 AM on 03/28/2012

The school doesn't say she can't use A walker. Just that she can't use THIS walker. I sincerely doubt we're getting the full story. Perhaps the mom has already been told that this walker has become unsafe and doesn't want to buy a new one.

We don't know why the principal stated she can't use that walker.

[EmmaDarian]

09:34 AM on 03/28/2012

Can you please give your source for the school's position? It's not in the above article. It's not in any article I read. And this news article says the school said no walker at all, that the child must use a wheelchair. That's a medical decision and would set the child back medically:

http://www.click2houston.com/news/Woman-fights-for-daughter-to-use-walker/-/1735978/9685478/-/pm9hkt/-/

Yes, we don't know why she was told no walker, because instead of answering the mother when she asked that question, the school official berated her, saying she didn't care about her daughter and challenging her to sue.

[Shannon Irwin]

12:03 AM on 03/30/2012

blogger used buzzwords like "perhaps" and "we don't know why" - so obviously there is no "source" to be given as he/she made it clear that these were loose ends to be considered. blogger is bringing up some valid points that should be addressed. I know most commenters on HuffPo just HATE to get the whole story after they've already made up their minds but gee don't you think getting the whole story every once in a while would make just a little bit of sense? smh

And the school official probably "berated" her - as you describe it because that's not how I heard it at all - because she went in there with her recorder going and guns blazing rather than trying to negotiate like a rational adult. Becoming defensive is a pretty common reaction when people behave that way... especially if it looks more like mom intended to bring a lawsuit from the get-go as opposed to reaching a common resolution since she went out of her way to bring a recorder to the first/only discussion she had with this man on the subject. The school obviously doesn't want to be put in a position of being liable for this child's future injuries - and since mom seems to be litigious-minded, I can kind of see why they might worry about that.