FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The parents of children with autism who were abused by a former Poudre School District (PSD) paraprofessional filed a federal lawsuit alleging the district should have never hired him in the first place.
Pictures laid across the Montgomery family’s table show their son, Ashton, as a happy, young boy. But they don’t paint the full picture of the trauma he has been through, according to his parents.
“I thanked this man every morning for taking care of my son because I had no idea that this was going on,” said Barclay Montgomery.
Barclay is referring to Tyler Zanella , a former Poudre School District paraprofessional who was sentenced in April to 12.5 years in prison for assaulting non-verbal children on school buses. Ashton was one of Zanella’s victims.
“At the end of the investigation, there were 37 videos of Ashton being assaulted,” said Daisy Montgomery.
The Montgomerys and another family on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit against the Poudre School District, four named school district employees — Shepardson Elementary School Principal Wayne Thornes, PSD Assistant Director of Human Resources Emily Bickerton, bus operator David Oliver and PSD Transportation Supervisor Sonja Novovesky — and five unnamed employees.