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RTC teen dies: 8-13-10
Ursus:
KWHI 1280 — Where News Comes First
DEATH INVESTIGATION OF FIVE OAKS CLIENT
(AUGUST 20TH, 2010)
An investigation is underway into the death of a 17-year old girl at an Austin County residential treatment facility.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services confirmed that they are investigating the death of 17-year old Shanice Nibbs, who collapsed July 16th while on a nature walk at the Five Oaks Achievement Center in New Ulm.
Nibbs died last Friday after a long stay in the intensive care unit at the Texas Children's Hospital.
An official with the governor's office confirmed that the agency notified it immediately of the incident and that it was aware that the agency had suspended all placements at the facilities until an investigation was completed.
The Brenham School District renewed a one-year contract in July with Five Oaks to educate Brenham students who suffer from severe disabilities, continuing a relationship the district has had with the facility for almost a decade.
The current principal of the facility is former Brenham school district assistant superintendent Jim Bruce.
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Ursus:
The facility's website is pretty sparse:
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FIVE OAKS ACHIEVEMENT CENTER
Thank you for visiting Five Oaks Achievement Center's web-site.
* Licensed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
* Approved educational campus by the Texas Education Agency
Five Oaks is located in the beautiful state of Texas, half way between Houston and Austin. Our 24 hour services specialize in the treatment of children and adolescents who may be presenting a combination of behavioral, learning, and social difficulties.
"BUILDING A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR SUCCESS"
Phone: 979-992-3791
Fax: 979-992-2828
Ursus:
From their 'About Us' page:
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About Us
Five Oaks Achievement Center is licensed by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. This license assures you of Five Oaks' commitment to provide children and adolescents the high quality care and safety that they deserve.
Staffing ratios are maintained at approximately one staff for every three to four clients, ensuring safety and constant monitoring of behaviors in the children's teaching home, classroom, and community.
Five Oaks is committed to assist each child in attaining the following goals: assist in returning each child to a less structured/restrictive environment; maximize the child's educational, behavioral, physical, and psychosocial functioning; help the child learn appropriate skills for re-socialization in their home environment; help the child learn accountability for their behaviors.
Ursus:
A coupla lawsuits involving Five Oaks Achievement Center; these appear to be primarily focused on educational rights and services:
* Texas Case Law
COLUMBUS INDEP. SCHOOL v. FIVE OAKS ACHIE., 197 S.W.3d 384 (Tex. 2006)
No. 05-0414.
June 30, 2006.
Five Oaks Achievement Center sued Columbus Independent School District for breach of a contract to provide special education services. The trial court overruled the District's plea to the jurisdiction based on immunity from suit and exhaustion of remedies, and the District took an interlocutory appeal. The court of appeals affirmed. 162 S.W.3d 812 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2005). The court of appeals held that the District's immunity is waived by section 11.151(a) of the Education Code, which states...
* Texas Case Law
CISD v. FIVE OAKS, 162 S.W.3d 812 (Tex.App. [14th Dist.] 2005)
No. 14-04-00129-CV.
April 21, 2005.
In this accelerated interlocutory appeal,[fn1] Columbus Independent School District ("CISD") appeals the denial of its plea to the jurisdiction on the grounds that: (1) Texas Education Code section 11.151 does not provide a waiver of its immunity from suit; (2) a school district cannot waive such immunity by conduct; and (3) Five Oaks Achievement Center ("Five Oaks") did not adequately exhaust its administrative remedies before filing suit. We affirm.
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Five Oaks is also mentioned in the following case, albeit not as a plaintiff or defendant. Said mention isn't found in LoisLaw's free summary, however, but can be found within google search results listings:
* Loislaw Federal District Court Opinions
MARCUS v. STATE (Hawaii 10-21-2009)
Civ. No. 08-00491 DAE/BMK.
October 21, 2009
On October 20, 2009, the Court heard Plaintiffs' appeal of a decision rendered by an administrative hearings officer concerning the appropriateness of a student's individualized education program. Matthew C. Bassett, Esq., appeared at the hearing on behalf of Plaintiffs, Deputy Attorney General Joanna B.K.F. Yeh appeared at the hearing on behalf of Defendant Department of Education ("DOE"). After reviewing the appeal, and the supporting and opposing briefs, the Court AFFIRMS the Hearings Officer's Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Decision.
Google search listing sniplets which link to this case:
For "five oaks achievement":
"Loislaw Federal District Court Opinions - MARCUS v. STATE...
?
Pay-Per-View - Loislaw Federal District Court Opinions - Oct 21, 2009
... Kilborn Mary Auvil and Denise Guerin Additionally administrators of a residential school in Texas Five Oaks Achievement CenterFive Oaks participated by ... "[/size]
For "Denise Guerin" + "five oaks":
"Loislaw Federal District Court Opinions - MARCUS v. STATE...
?
Pay-Per-View - Loislaw Federal District Court Opinions - Oct 21, 2009
... education teacher and Denise Guerin a District Education Specialist Not ... Randall Bryant Executive Director Page 7 for Five Oaks Denise Guerin and ... "[/size]
For "special education" + "five oaks":
Loislaw Federal District Court Opinions - MARCUS v. STATE...
?
Pay-Per-View - Loislaw Federal District Court Opinions - Oct 21, 2009
... with autism who is eligible to receive special education and related services ... of a residential school in Texas Five Oaks Achievement CenterFive Oaks ...[/size]
Ursus:
Questions raised over teen's death at facility
Employees' lack of first aid knowledge may have contributed
By TERRI LANGFORD
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Aug. 21, 2010, 10:24AM
Just eight weeks before a 17-year-old Houston foster child died in intensive care after collapsing from heat exhaustion during a nature walk in 90-degree temperatures, another teen from the same facility was hospitalized for an untreated staph infection in the knee.
A month earlier, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services officials found at least seven employees at the Five Oaks Achievement Center, a residential treatment facility 72 miles west of Houston, were lacking in first aid and CPR certification.
State investigators now are looking into whether Five Oaks staff's lack of first aid knowledge or other factors played a part in last week's death of Shanice Shamika Nibbs.
Her death comes two months after the Houston Chronicle and Texas Tribune reported details of 250 confirmed abuse incidents that occurred in RTCs, where the state's foster children with developmental and emotional problems are placed.
Spent weeks in ICU
Nibbs languished for weeks in intensive care before dying from "complications of hyperthermia" after her July 16 collapse. DFPS, the agency responsible for both the care of the abused children and the facilities it licenses, insists Five Oaks, the RTC where Nibbs and at least 22 other foster care children lived, is safe.
It has, however, stopped placing children at Five Oaks as it investigates Nibbs' death.
"The children there have an established relationship with their caregivers," said Patrick Crimmins, DFPS spokesman. "Each child was interviewed after the July 16 incident involving Shanice. From those interviews with the children, and from our intense and ongoing discussions with the facility operators, we feel those children are very safe."
DFPS visits since 2008 show that Five Oaks, one of the state's 79 RTCs, has had some difficulty managing routine health and child discipline tasks. The facility declined to answer questions about its history that included:
On June 24, DFPS found a child's paperwork indicated no allergies, though medical records indicated otherwise.
On June 16, the 14-year-girl was hospitalized for a staph infection left untreated for a month.
On April 24, overnight staff members were found by DFPS not to have proper training to supervise children, and staff records indicated seven employees did not have current certification in first aid and CPR.
On March 8, six out of eight residents informed DFPS staff that Five Oaks employees had relied on restraints or "emergency behavior intervention" to get them to do as requested. Because this is a facility for the most difficult foster children, it is not known if these restraints were correctly applied or not.
On May 1, 2009, five Five Oaks children told DFPS staff that they were required to make their beds before they had access to the bathrooms in the morning. State-contracted facilities are not allowed to use food, sleep or access to toilets as a way to get a child to comply.
Attended Alvin High
The Chronicle's attempts to reach Nibbs' family were unsuccessful.
A memorial site for Nibbs on the Internet revealed she attended Alvin High School for a brief period.
The agency confirmed that Nibbs first came into foster care in Houston when she was just 6 years old in November 1999. From then until her death, she was placed in at least a dozen homes before coming to Five Oaks in February after eight months at a psychiatric facility.
Calls to a lawyer who represented Nibbs in CPS court proceedings were not returned.
Still unknown is exactly what time Nibbs began feeling ill from the heat. The first call to the Austin County Sheriff's Office from the facility came at 2:58 p.m. on July 16.
Temperatures at noon on that day reached 93 degrees. It also is unclear whether the call came from Five Oaks immediately or after first aid failed to revive Nibbs.
Little information given
Neither the state nor the facility will say exactly how many staffers were on the "nature walk," how long it was or what kind of hydration was available to the girls.
"Five Oaks Achievement Center has experienced a loss that we are deeply saddened by," said Randall Bryant, the facility's chief executive in a prepared statement regarding the facility's only child death. "Due to federal and state laws regarding privacy and confidentiality, Five Oaks Achievement Center is prohibited from disclosing information regarding its residents."
A mental health professional, who asked that her name not be disclosed, said Nibbs enjoyed rap music and was often seen singing and dancing to songs she knew or those she had written herself.
"I am hopeful that the sad circumstances of her death will result, in the least, in the world seeing a portrait of the compassionate young girl inside her that so few people had the opportunity to know," she said.
terri.langford@chron.com
Copyright © 2010 The Houston Chronicle
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