Just because will cant talk, doesnt mean he cant communicate, and he communicated to us very clearly that something bad was happening at school. Bill allegations of autistic students being abused at a local School District, a former teachers aide was fired for reporting what she saw, and how the district is responding in tonights fox 46 special report. Should we play defense or should we play offense . Which one do you want . Kayla gop president ial candidate jeb bush campaigning in rock hill tonight ahead of election. What potential voters had to say. Bill and its now been 15 years since nascar legend Dale Earnhardt died in a violent crash during the daytona 500. Its a loss fans tell us still is felt in the sport. Good evening and thank you for joining us for fox 46 news im bill melugin. Kayla and im kayla ayres. First on fox tonight, who will be the next u. S. President . Voters in South Carolina have a chance to weigh in on the republican side of things this weekend during the primary election. David sentendrey is joining us live in rock hill after spending the evening at a jeb bush town hall event. David, whats the takeaway from tonight . Reporter good evening, kayla, tonights event lasted about 90 minutes, jeb bush said if elected First Priority would be to go on offense against terrorism. That is here at home and overseas, still plenty of people we spoke with dont know who theyre going to be voting for. Community, bush is telling these voters hes the best person for the job. And says the number one priority is to defeat terrorism before its too late. Containing the ambitions of iran and destroying isis will bring peace and security and if we do nothing, theyre coming here. Reporter terrorism at the center of thursdays town hall event. This is a community that saw one of its own, a teenager, arrested while plotting to kill in the name of isis. Its definitely, i have grandchildren i want the place to be safe for them. It could be a random kid in your class. Hes going to be joining the military. Reporter tony is speaking for his son who he says is joining the military. I want to be sure my son is taken care of and they have his back because hes giving his life for this country. Reporter bush believes hell be the most aggressive. Which one do you want . I believe we need to play offense to keep this country safe . Reporter a fox news poll shows bush trailing donald trump, ted cruz and marco rubio in the South Carolina republican primary. This has some who may like bush worrying if their vote would have more impact with another candidate. I need my candidate to make a difference. I need them to win. Reporter in this room mostly of republicans, about finding the best choice for their party. I like anyone but bernie and hillary. I dont care. Reporter some say it is jeb bush. I feel he can beat Hillary Clinton or bernie sanders, whichever the case may be. Reporter others, after thursday, upclose and personal still arent sold. Im still looking for somebody. Not 100 sure who its going to be. Reporter and according to the fox news poll, donald trump is in the South Carolina lead at 32 . Right now live in rock hill, david sentendrey, fox 46 wjzy. Kayla thank you, david. Still a lot can change moving toward this weekend. 25 of those polled by fox news say they could still change their minds. And jeb bush wasnt the only candidate rallying in South Carolina tonight, Ohio Governor john kasich held a town hall over in fort mill. Heres a clip one of the ways he says hes going to get all the republicans and democrats to see eyetoeye if hes elected president. One of the things im going to do in the first 100 day is get the phone numbers of every mother and father of people who have kids in congress, and then im going to call mom on her birthday and shes going to call her kid and say dont you mess with the president. I like him [laughter]. Bill and tomorrow kasich is holding a town hall in columbia at 10 00 in the morning, and then Mount Pleasant and charleston at 6 00. A lot of people heading to the lets check in with chief meteorologist brian basham. Do the folks in South Carolina have a nice forecast . Brian great for them as they head out to the polls. Things are good too as we look at the satellite and radar, thin clouds, things are quiet across the area, theyre going to stay that way for a few days. Temperatures are beginning to dip. Slow going in charlotte, 35 while everybody else with the exception of hickory has dropped into the 30s. We will see freezing temperatures tonight, so as we chill out there, and the. Kayla i77 will be closed from now until 3 00 a. M. Tomorrow. The charlotte nurse convicted of hiring an Undercover Police officer to kill her husband has learned her fate. Fathia davis was sentenced to ten years in prison along with two years Court Supervision after release. Davis was convicted of hiring two cops posed as hitmen and the job which she falsely told them had been done. Bill parents are calling for cameras in special ed classrooms after they have lost all trust with district leadership. After a former teachers aide says she was fired for reporting the abuse of autistic children, and a father sends his son to school with a hidden recording device and catches something shocking in the process. For three months weve been investigating and the district is responding. All in tonights fox 46 special report. Say party. Party. City. City. Thats right. Good job. Reporter within just seconds of meeting these clover parent, the love they have for their 10yearold son will is easy to see. Will is autistic, nonverbal, and hes being homeschooled. Tuesday, right. Reporter but up until a few months ago, he was a student right here at lauren elementary school. Just because will cant talk doesnt mean he cant and he communicated to us very clearly that something bad was happening at school. Reporter both bill and kim tell me as soon as will started at the school, he began suffering from anxiety and acting out of character. Most recently, he had been coming home very upset from school. Reporter they sent dozens of emails to school leadership, made several phone calls and requested inperson observations. They wanted answers from wills special education teacher. During one of the observations, will became physically upset. He started crying. He started having behaviors. I felt, at that point, he was telling me something was definitely wrong at school. Reporter and they felt like they certainly had reason to worry. Thats because two years ago, elementary came forward with allegations that she witnessed wills former teacher, along with aides abusing autistic children. It bothered me so much that i had to speak up and Say Something that these kids cant speak up for themselves. Reporter we were able to track down the former ta. She asked for anonymity but told us she worked in clover district special Education Program for ten years before witnessing the alleged abuse in february of 2014. Just a child being forced to eat something he didnt want to, and then when he had a mouthful, being put in the dark room to make him swallow it. Another child was in the shower shivering, crying, very hysterically crying. There was an older child that was being made to do a worksheet and because he was stuff, they took his tshirt off and made him do the work without a shirt. Reporter coworkers began treating her differently after she came forward and she was fired a few months after she reported the allegations to district leadership. Shes filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Clover School district where she alleges she was retaliated against for reporting what they saw. If i did this, it was going to be hard on me for speaking up. Reporter you expected retaliation . I did, i did, and felt like i got it. Reporter clover district Spokesman Says they cannot comment why she was fired. Court documents state the School Principal accused her of not doing her job correctly and accused her of saying she could be vindictive, she denied this, saying she felt she was treated vindictively. School took this as a threat and she was terminated. No evidence whatsoever to bohning her claims of abuse. We did take it very seriously, the allegations that were made and looked into the whole portion of the allegations to make sure that any abuse claims were thoroughly investigated. Reporter they felt the allegations were swept under the rug and wondered if something was happening to will at school. Last year on october 2nd, they decided to send him to class with a hidden recording device, and it captured something shocking. It begins when the class telephone rings alerting wills teacher, theyre there to pick will up from school. While packing his bags, the teacher could be heard threatening his wife while speaking to a teachers aide. If i find her, i will go to her i had to replay it to make sure thats what i was hearing, and my instant reaction was an, oh, my god kind of moment, that the allegations of abuse in the past coming out of that school, you know, and sorry. It was all said in front of will and all of these other students, with the assumption that they dont understand, and with the assumption that they dont have the ability to go tell somebody that this is happening. Reporter they immediately pulled will out of the district and filed a complaint. The superintendent responded with a later saying the incident was thoroughly investigated and assured the family that the district was taking appropriate action against the correct employee findings. However, in response to my freedom of information act request, district documents show no records of discipline for the teacher or the aide she was speaking to in that recording. Regarding the audiotape, the agreement is there was an inappropriate comment made in the classroom, and one that was taken and investigated thoroughly and seriously. Reporter the district tells me they werent able to figure out who made the threat, and both women denied saying it. I asked the district why there were no records of discipline for either of them . So after the investigation was concluded, it was an opportunity that we found to make sure that all parties involved and all district Staff Members understand the importance of professionalism at all times in the classroom. Reporter in other words, they were given only a verbal warning. Not surprised. Not surprised because of our experience with the School District. Its infuriating, but not surprising. Bill coming up next, we take a look at districts own investigation into the past allegations of abuse of autistic students at the elementary school, and why parents say why what we found in the documents show they were kept in the dark about in the battle of the burgers, jack made a declaration of delicious. He took a stand for handleafed lettuce and freshsliced tomatoes. He formed a Perfect Union between 100 beef, cheese, and mouth. With buttery bakery buns for all and america ate it up. True story. Were making every burger better, like the new double jack. Bill welcome back, after a caught making a death threat towards a childs mom, the district took no formal action against her. As youre about to see in part 2 of our special report, parents say lack of accountability made them question everything the district had told them in the past. I was really afraid because of past allegations of physical abuse that thats what was happening. Reporter did Clover School district cover up what really happened when a teachers aide claimed she witnessed abuse of autistic children at Larne Elementary School. Bill and kim brittain did. When the allegations came out two years ago, in the back of my mind i didnt think they were handled appropriately, i was still nervous that things had happened to my son, and other children in the school program. Reporter kim asked we us she pulled her son out of the Program Last Year after he started exhibiting severe behaviors after attending larne elementary. Started regressing in the bathroom. Became terrified of the dark. He also would go into the bathroom would and say, im okay, im okay, its okay, its okay. And we couldnt figure out what it was. He started saying, you know, no school. And not only just saying it, but started crying uncontrollable. Hitting himself. And so we just decided it was time. Reporter i got a copy of the districts investigation into the alleged abuse the former ta reported. Though every single name was redacted, one teachers aide reported she saw a student forced to sit on the toilet for 90 minutes and saw a different aide flip a child out of a chair. She told administrators a child was put into a closet to finish food, that a teacher student 20 seconds to swallow, and if he didnt finish, he would be put in the dark. Another teachers aide reported seeing a student allowed to fall out of a chair as a natural consequence for rocking in it, and a teacher said a natural consequence is to let the child fall. The documents say a teacher put a child in the bathroom with the lights out as a negative consequence to get him to try new foods. When that didnt work, the teacher said she would try putting the child in the toy closet, which parents didnt know about. The ta who was fired said that same teacher had a flashlight and said to a child, quote, do your work or i will turn this light off. Some aides reported seeing nothing done wrong and had no concerns about what was going on in the classroom. In a letter sent out to ioon mistreatment of students; that what the aides witnessed were isolated snapshots of teachingn tused on teaching strategies. They were never shown the detas oes ti dg with the district, they say they were told the allegation were coming from a rogue former employee. Its been years dealing with lies, deflections, misinterpretations. Reporter bill says because will was in the accused teachers class at the time the allegations came up, they believe they now know why he is deathly afraid of the dark, and the brittains believe will was one of the students purposely tipped out of the chair, after he came home with a large lump on his head one day. Will had been telling us all along something wasnt right. And put our faith in the pool and. As a parent of a child with special needs, your biggest fear is that someone will harm him or abuse him or take advantage of him, and you never imagine that thats going to happen at school. Reporter Clover School records request for the disciplinary records of the teacher accused of abuse citing privacy rights. She was a very new teacher to the district, shes been able to use the feedback from the allegations, turn that into take that into professional development and flourish and become a good teacher. Reporter neither the teacher accused of making the death threat or accused of the abuse responded to my request for their side. Story. Something has to be done. Something has to be done. This individual or individuals do not belong in any classroom let alone a special education classroom. Reporter and as for the former ta, she might be the one out of a job, she has no regrets whatsoever about reporting what she saw. Im not one to really fight back, but i told my husband, i cant let this go. For the kids and for myself. Tell me since they pulled their kids out of Clover School district, severe behaviors have come to a stop. While their kids are no longer enrolled, they are calling for cameras to be installed in special ed classrooms, they dont feel its necessary. The district sent me a final statement saying, quote, the district stands by our decisions and openness during the 2014 investigation. Abuse and neglect allegations were unfounded. The district kept classroom parents informed of the allegations, investigation, findings and areas for improvement with written and facetoface meetings. No parents have raised these allegations since that time two years ago. Theres a lot of information i was not able to fit into the story. Head over to fox46charlotte. Com, where im posting copies of the districts investigation, and youll see a very strongly worded statement from a prominent civil rights School District handled those allegations of abuse. Brian good evening, everybody. We are expecting a cold night but so far we havent had a break just yet as we continue to sit at 45 in charlotte. Wind speeds blowing at 5 miles an hour, and here is good news, for those of you plananning to go outside this weekend, weve got great weather for you. Mention the lego kid fest is in town at the Charlotte Convention center. How about this weather . Friday, 53 and sunny. Warms from there. We pick up cloud cover on is the day, but stay dry as the temperatures reach 62 and sunday warmer at 68 degrees. Definitely some great news as we head into the weekend, as we look down to the south and west. Look at these temperatures this late in the night. Dallas sitting at 70 degrees. Now the same system thats bringing in warm weather there is moving under us over the next couple of days, and its moist air in out of the south here. Well start to see cloud cover on saturday as a result, but definitely thats going to cause the temperatures to climb into the 60s. Of course, that is going to give us a setup to see moisture as we roll into next week. Again tonight, want to mention, were at 31 degrees. Lets talk about the next seven days and chances for rain. Again, nice and dry, thursday, friday and saturday. Little chance for rain, probably 5 00, 6 00 sunday and big chances for rain, monday, tuesday and wednesday. Well discuss that in further detail in 10 minutes from right now. Kayla all right, thank you, brian. Coming up, cms parents, teachers and students join together discussing Forum Student assignment. Community. Kayla heres the latest on a following. Cms parent, teachers and students had a discussion about a possible Student Assignment plan. Cms Board Members are working on a plan that could change what School Students enroll in. The group talked about bussing, neighborhood schools and the importance of achieving a balance of diversity. The for