Educator Accused of Child Abuse

(Palmdale, California) A 61-year-old former instructional aide at Manzanita Elementary School, Gloria Kleeh, has been charged with misdemeanor counts of cruelty to a child by inflicting injury.

Kleeh is also named in two civil lawsuits alleging child abuse of a boy and girl, both 7-year-old special-education students, in 2004.

From LA Daily News:

"It's a really egregious and shocking story," said Angela Gilmartin, an attorney representing the boy, who is autistic and "nonverbal," in two civil lawsuits, one filed just recently against the district that brought the case to light.

The boy's mother only became aware of the incident involving her son when she got a subpoena in July 2005 from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office regarding Kleeh's case.

"She got a subpoena in the mail, didn't know what it was about, and called the D.A.," Gilmartin said. "They told her they wanted her to testify because (her son) was a victim in a child-abuse case. She had no idea."

One of the lawsuits alleges that the boy and his classmates were subjected to abuse, including "closed fist punches to his head, poking of his chest with a stick, beatings on body with a pipe, pushing and holding (him) down ... to his desk, and verbal degradation and abuse."

Witnesses to the alleged abuse notified school officials who alerted the authorities. The parents, however, were not told.

Kleeh pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges. A trial date has yet to be scheduled.

Tip: Jason Cann