Update: Monday, 5 p.m. -- Attorney William Seikaly filed the lawsuit on Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Attorney William Seikaly refers to her as “a parent’s worst nightmare.”

He’s talking about ex-Livonia Public School teacher Sharon Turbiak, who he says mentally and physically abused cognitively disabled children, ages five to seven, in 2011-12 at Webster Elementary School. In one instance, Turbiak allegedly pulled a chair away as a disabled female student was sitting down, and laughed when she plopped to the ground. “I have a sick sense of humor,” she blurted out to some high students observing her class that day, according to an internal school district report.

That pupil's father, who spoke to Deadline Detroit on the condition of anonymity, said:  “It hurts us to think about what my little girl had to go through everyday, that really haunts me. My daughter can’t speak to us. We had no possible way to know this was happening.”

On Monday, Seikaly plans to sue in U.S. District Court in Detroit  on behalf of the parents of three children. As defendants, the suit names Turbiak, her teacher’s aide and officials at the Livonia school district, who are accused of ignoring repeated warnings from staffers that disabled children were being abused by Turbiak and her paraprofessional aide, Nancy Respondik. The suit will allege criminal child abuse, civil right violations and neglect for physical, emotional and psychological damage.

“This case really ends up being about the school system and physical abuse, the constant reporting of it and the school system choosing to do nothing about it,” the Farmington Hills attorney said. “The parents are outraged how much the school knew and completely failed to do anything.”

Seikaly’s says his lawsuit will rely heavily on an April 2012 school district report chock full of allegations. The report was prepared by Mark D. Schultz, administrator of employee relations and public safety for Livonia Public Schools.

A Host of Allegations

The report cites instances in which school staff went to Webster's principal to report allegations of abuse by Turbiak and, to some extent, Respondik. Turbiak retired from the system after a 7-0 school board vote to dismiss her and Respondik was fired last June. Turbiak, a 14-year district employee, had been on paid leave since April 2012. 

On Oct. 25, 2011, the internal inquiry says a staff member told the principal that “the lower-functioning children in the classroom were frustrating to Sharon and that they were the most vulnerable to possible rough treatment.”

Allegations in the report reported by staff against Turbiak include:

  • A pattern of letting children with balance and mobility issues “fall rather than support their transition to a chair or the floor.”
  • Forcing a student to eat cereal and “the student gagging and crying.”
  • Placing some in the bathroom for “timeouts.”
  • Tying Pringle potato chip cans to one student’s arms to prevent her from covering her ears. The student had noise sensitivity issues.
  • Using physical restraint to keep a student in her chair and force feeding her and slamming “her down in the corner.”
  • Grabbing  students by the face, one hand on the chin, and shaking the head back and forth, yelling at them.
  • Picking up children from the floor by “one arm [with] the potential to dislocate a small shoulder."

The internal school report also raised allegations of abuse involving Respondek, who once allegedly took a student by his arm, spanked him and yelled “No” in his face.

In November, attorney Ven Johnson raised similar complaints in a federal lawsuit on behalf of a family, and WXYZ's Ross Jones reported on some of the allegations. 

Attempts to reach Turbiak and Respondik for comment on Friday were unsuccessful.

Father Wants Justice

The father whose daughter had the chair allegedly pulled out from under her said he’s angry and feels the school betrayed his family. He thinks his child was exposed to a hostile environment for a long time and missed opportunities to learn and grow.

He said he hopes to get compensation from the suit, perhaps in the form of additional tutoring and education for his daughter to offset the harm from being in an abusive environment.

"I want justice for her," he said.


Superintendent Randy Liepa

Superintendent Randy Liepa, expected to be a defendant in the case,  issued a response Friday to Deadline Detroit:

Livonia Public Schools did take this situation very seriously, and took measures to ensure the ongoing safety of our students. Such measures included:

  • Conducting an internal investigation.
  • Self-reporting to local law enforcement (no charges were filed).
  • Filing tenure charges against the teacher for dismissal. The teacher resigned prior to the completion of the tenure process.
  • Terminating employment of the paraprofessional.
  • To address any future issues, the district implemented added measures, including: 
  • Updating plans for training employees in reporting requirements and continuing ongoing training for staff, relating to working with students.
  • Assigning a new principal at Webster.
  • Replacing the teacher and paraprofessional in question.
  • Installing cameras in the preschool classrooms, to provide added comfort for parents.

The district has been moving forward with the focus of providing a safe educational environment for all students.
The district has not received this lawsuit and does not comment on any specifics of possible or actual litigation. 

Seikaly comments on the district's response: 

"The District's own internal investigation establishes that the district did not respond in a timely, nor appropriate manner." 

Besides the allegations of abuse, some staffers complained of working in a hostile environment where Turbiak vowed to go after those who were reporting her, the internal report said.

In fall 2011, Turbiak called a meeting of paraprofessionals and tearfully spoke of her anger about people reporting incidents to the principal, the report says, adding:

“Sharon told them she could no longer trust anyone and that there was a mole in their team and she was going to do everything in her power to find who had spoken to Shellie (the principal).  She would pursue this until she found out who the rat in the team was.”

Seikaly says parents are horrified.

“The parents believed that their children were getting the same kind of loving and supportive environment that they received at home. Instead they discovered the children were being abused.”