BOTETOURT COUNTY (WSLS 10) - Parents of special needs students plan to address the Botetourt County School Board about how their children are being treated in the classroom.
This comes after a Lord Botetourt high school parent claimed her son was sent home with bags of his feces in his book bag three times within an 11 day period.
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The Mnichs family said they've been working with a consultant and filed a complaint to the state, which is investigating the incidents.
"It's tough for my wife and us to go through that and it's tough on your child who says he doesn't want to go to school and its tough to communicate with him," father Phil Mnich said.
According to the state's school guidelines created by the Virginia Department of Health, soiled student clothing should be rinsed using gloves, placed in a plastic bag and sent home with appropriate washing instructions for the parents.
The school's special education director was contacted several times for comment, but has been unavailable.
A school board meeting was held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday to address the concerns. WSLS 10's Ananda Rochita was at the board's meeting. She was asked to remove or turn off the WSLS 10 microphones.
A WSLS 10 microphone was moved away from the microphones set up for the meeting by superintendent Tony Brads. The same microphone was turned off by School Board Chairwoman Ruth Wallace after Wallace asked Rochita to remove the microphone on two occasions.
Under Virginia code § 2.2-3707. Meetings to be public; notice of meetings; recordings; minutes, it states in part:
A. All meetings of public bodies shall be open, except as provided in § 2.2-3707.01 and 2.2-3711.
H. Any person may photograph, film, record or otherwise reproduce any portion of a meeting required to be open. The public body conducting the meeting may adopt rules governing the placement and use of equipment necessary for broadcasting, photographing, filming or recording a meeting to prevent interference with the proceedings, but shall not prohibit or otherwise prevent any person from photographing, filming, recording, or otherwise reproducing any portion of a meeting required to be open. No public body shall conduct a meeting required to be open in any building or facility where such recording devices are prohibited.
Wallace was asked after the meeting why the microphones were removed or turned off. She responded that Rochita had left the room and that microphones projecting sound within the room were sufficient. However, a means to connect the WSLS 10 camera to those microphones was not provided.