Caught on Video: Special Education Judge Resigns After Falling Asleep During Testimony
- Posted on February 11, 2012 at 5:20pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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How frustrated would you be if you felt that your child became suicidal because your school district refused to address or acknowledge his autism? Now imagine if during the educational court proceeding to settle the dispute with the district, the state-appointed hearing officer serving as judge and jury was caught sleeping multiple times during testimony. This nightmare was the reality for one Houston family who told their local FOX affiliate that the fate of their special needs child was up for judgement by a man who “was actually sleeping for extended periods of time” during their “Due Process” educational court proceeding.
“In Texas, when the parents of special needs children disagree with the way their public school is educating their kid and efforts at compromise fail, there is often only one recourse to settle the dispute. It‘s called ’Due Process’, an educational court proceeding in which a state-appointed hearing officer listens to the issues and serves as judge and jury.
Larry Craddock was presiding at just such a hearing when he was captured on cell phone camera snoozing through testimony. Attorney Silver estimates Craddock slept through a quarter of the proceedings.
‘We dropped water bottles. We tried coughing, we tried jumbling our books to help stir him awake, but it wasn’t working,’ said parent Donna Harvey.
Parents who engage in a ‘due process hearing’ often expend tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees fighting school districts with much deeper pockets.
Most of the time parents lose.”
Craddock announced he would resign shortly after declining to comment to an e-mail sent by FOX 26 including video, still pictures and witness affidavits to his naps during the critical hearing. Craddock had refused to step down until Friday, claiming he was only asleep for a few minutes during the three-day hearing and not hours as the Ryan’s parents and their lawyer claim. After presented with video evidence and a demand by the parents that he pull out of the case, Craddock resigned and apologized for falling asleep, blaming his drowsiness on medication and also insisted that it was the lawyer’s responsibility to wake him up.
FOX 26 reports that this is not Craddock’s first battle with remaining awake during critical testimony. In a grievance filed with the state in 2006, a Houston-area family accused Craddock of falling asleep 15 times during their due process hearing. No action was taken by the state and Cardiac ruled in favor of the school district.
Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe told FOX 26 that Craddock’s cases will be re-assigned to other hearing officers.
Video of the judge asleep on the job:
Sleeping Special Education Judge Resigns under Fire: MyFoxHOUSTON.com
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Tickdog
Posted on February 13, 2012 at 8:15amlol! you just cant write this stuff…
Report Post »nilo
Posted on February 12, 2012 at 2:34pmSymbolism here. Our judicial system has been asleep for a long time. They are in a dream world of wanting to make law rather than following law. TERM LIMITS FOR ALL JUDGES………. ALL OF THEM!
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on February 12, 2012 at 11:27amSpecial Ed COURT ? ?
REALLY??
Government needs to get OUT of the educational system !
It is the irresponsible parents, and the dumbing-down and bar-lowering that has destroyed our educational system.
WHY ON EARTH do we need a JUDGE for an educational dispute?
Without all the bureaucracy, there would be no dispute.
With parents whose common goal is the education of their children, there would be no dispute.
If you do not like the public educaton system, put your child in a private school.
Cannot afford one? There are scholarship programs available. Plus, I am sure a child with special needs qualifies for other government aid. – Oh, the government won’t let you use that aid for private schooling? Yet another argument for getting govt out of the system.
The broken educational system is my take-away from this story.
(hyperbole intended for emphasis)
Report Post »gr8t2bfree
Posted on February 12, 2012 at 10:39amThis judge learned how to sleep in traffic court!
Report Post »grannyrecipe
Posted on February 12, 2012 at 7:54amWell, the dud was up all night protesting with the unions.
Report Post »Papa Joe
Posted on February 12, 2012 at 7:44amThis guy acts like a teacher in the Chicago public school system!
Report Post »bhosux
Posted on February 12, 2012 at 5:55amThe Judge is the victim in this story. He did not have Obama Care or the Michelle diet to fortify his overall health. With the two he would of been younger and stronger. It takes tons of energy and good health to listen to people who want something from everyone else all day. I’m sure George Bush had something to do with this too.
Report Post »burnteye86
Posted on February 12, 2012 at 4:37amMCCRACEN trhis aint no english tesyt
Report Post »KyleD
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 8:15pmHe could have sleep apnea. People with severe sleep apnea fall asleep if they’re sitting down for more than a couple minutes…they can‘t help it and they generally don’t admit it’s a problem.
Report Post »RJJinGadsden
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 10:37pmThink you might mean narcolepsy.
Report Post »burnteye86
Posted on February 12, 2012 at 4:34amHe’ll have plenty of time for naps now.
Report Post »Buck Shane
Posted on February 12, 2012 at 11:18amHe was bored. He already knew how this was going to come out. The decision was made by the politicians who appointed him, and this was just a dog and pony show to cover the mistakes made.
Report Post »garbagecanlogic
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 6:34pmMaybe his entire past needs to be reviewed and thrown out.
Pray For Obama. Psalm 109:8
The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
Report Post »The U.N. Out Of The U.S.
eyestoseeearstohear
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 7:18pmYeah…I’m praying for Obama – TO GO!
Report Post »geonj
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 6:33pmwhy won’t people stand up and say they are at fault when they screw up? this sleeping fool blames the lawyer, just another example of passing the buck. washinton DC’s favorite pasttime.
Report Post »db321
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 7:31pmI hope he didn’t snore!
Report Post »NancyBee
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 6:23pmResign?????? He needed to be fired long time ago!
Report Post »LeadNotFollow
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 6:19pm…
Report Post »Another fine example of our broken judicial system.
babylonvi
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 6:10pmWhy is this different than congress who does not even READ the bills they vote on that spend TRILLIONS of out tax dollars and disassemble our constitutional protections. He already knows the outcome he has been told to produce so why waste time listening to evidence?
Report Post »spirited
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 5:52pmA living example of who ‘s been running things.
Report Post »Jackie Rogers, Jr.
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 5:49pmFor the whole story the hearing officer’s name is Craddock. Then in the last sentence of the next to last paragraph it becomes Cardiac? What happened, did I nod off?
Report Post »MDDAWG
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 6:13pmMaybe he was having episodes of cardiac arrhythmias during the hearing.
Report Post »mccracken
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 6:41pmThere is really poor proofreading on this web site.
Report Post »ZAP
Posted on February 11, 2012 at 5:46pmDon’t feel bad.the whole government is asleep
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