Their daughter, Jamie Druhan Green, was involved in Butler Tech’s Project Search, a job exploration program for older students with disabilities.
Butler Tech formerly contracted job coaches from the Middletown-based Abilities First Foundation, also named in the suit along with the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission.
ORSC assessments of Green state she is unemployable and “needs therapy, medication evaluation, and possible anger management,” and according to court documents, this means she is unable to receive future services without complying.
Green, who has a disability similar to Down syndrome with autistic tendencies, has goals to become a biologist, massage therapist or X-ray technician, the lawsuit states.
“Project search is a valuable program for high school students with a disability in transition,” said the former student’s mother, Jamie Green. “Our daughter entered the Butler Tech program with high hopes. Unfortunately, things went awry, ultimately placing us in the judicial process .”
The Greens allege ORSC counselor Jerica Kruse created inaccurate records and overstepped her credentials by diagnosing a person as having an emotional disturbance.
They also claim Project Search teacher Tony Huff set their left-handed daughter up for failure by requiring her to enter data using a right-handed keyboard. Atrium Medical Center in Middletown — where Green completed two of three successful internships — no longer requires employees to enter this data manually, according to court documents. The Greens claim the work was “arbitrary” and created an “unnecessarily difficult working environment.”
Bill Solazzo, Butler Tech’s marketing director, said he could not comment on an active court case.
Karen Smith, director of Abilities First, said the organization has retained a lawyer and has no comment at this point.
The Greens are requesting $25,000 in damages, legal costs and corrected information to their daughter’s education records. Their daughter, the suit states, was emotionally affected by the labels placed on her with “malice, ill-will and with a conscious disregard” for her rights.
A status report hearing is set for July 22 in Butler County Common Pleas Court.
Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5067 or lhilty@coxohio.com
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