Parents suing Horry County Schools over abuse of their special needs children
Parents of four disabled children are suing the Horry County School District and two former Ocean Bay Elementary School employees for abusing their children and not reporting it.
The lawsuits allege gross negligence, negligent misrepresentation and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the district and intentional inflection of emotional distress and civil conspiracy against Rebecca Schroyer and Grace McColgan. Schroyer is the former Ocean Bay principal and McColgan is the special education teacher convicted of abusing her students.
McColgan pleaded guilty to six counts of cruelty to children in July and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. She is also not allowed to work with children and is on a child abuse registry.
The lawsuits state McColgan abused special education students during the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school year. She’s accused her of leaving a child who could not open the door alone in a dark bathroom as punishment, denying the child food and hitting her, according to the court complaint. The lawsuit states she also pushed a student out of their wheel chair, has hit and punched students and put hand sanitizer into a student’s open wound.
The lawsuits accuse Horry County Schools of knowing that McColgan was harming children and recommended Schroyer to stay quiet.
In February 2022, a video showed that McColgan punched a studentand she was placed on a six-week paid leave, according to the lawsuit. Schroyer did not contact Horry County Police about this incident and did not tell parents why McColgan was on leave. After the six weeks, McColgan returned to her special education classroom and came back the following the school year, the lawsuits stated.
HCPD was called October 2022 to investigate claims that McColgan was mistreating children. Police obtained a search warrant and that is when the district told parents about the harm that was or could be inflicted upon their children.
In November 2022, Schroyer and McColgan were arrested — Schroyer for failing to report McColgan and McColgan for mistreatment of children.
The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office later dismissed Schroyer’s charges. The South Carolina Department of Education is reviewing Schroyer’s credentials, according to The Sun News.
Schroyer was put on paid administrative leave in November 2022 and, as of March 2024, is still on the paid leave, The Sun News reported. Horry County School District has also paid for some of Schroyer’s legal fees.
A request for comment on the lawsuits was sent to a Horry County Schools spokesperson on Sunday.
