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More Families Say Children Abused in Great Falls Schools, Second Suspect Located in Texas

By KFBB News Team

Story Created: Oct 21, 2009 at 5:40 PM MST

Story Updated: Oct 21, 2009 at 10:33 PM MST

More families are coming forward saying they believe their special needs children were abused in Great Falls schools. And with one teacher's aide already arrested, police now say they've located a second woman charged with abusing an autistic child.

Julie Parish and Kristina Kallies are charged with assault on a minor and endangering the welfare of children. Parish was arrested last weekend, and police say they've now located Kallies in Texas and expect to arrest her soon.

And with many people learning of the allegations, more families are expressing concern for their children. So far 14 families have contacted the Tarum Law Offices looking for representation including several in the last 48 hours.

Tarum said, "We've gotten calls from seven parents that believe their child was abused or mistreated, five with severe disabilities."

The children range in age from elementary to high school. None of the new allegations are more serious than those that came to light earlier this week including inappropriate punishment like water boarding and severe neglect including leaving a boy in soiled pants. The new allegations do however include physical abuse.

Right now Tarum says his top priority is identifying any other potential victims including one boy in the North Middle School class who he believes was locked in a closet.

“One student that we know was pretty severely mistreated in that North classroom. There are still folks like that we're still seeking out and trying to find,” added Tarum.

Tarum believes the school district must play a role in finding counselors trained to work with special needs children. He adds the families support the idea of the attorney general to being involved in the investigation.

For its part, the school district has said it's already changed its hiring practices since these allegations came to light.

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Mary said on Friday, Nov 20 at 3:12 PM

I think that sending someone in to find the "holes" in these stories is ridiculous, send these para educators to jail for a long time. and why don't you do something proactive like teach students about the rights that they have, make sure someone is keeping these kids safe and you know what maybe there really are 14 new cases---- if you abuse once, what is keeping you from doing it 14 times.

Anonymous said on Thursday, Nov 12 at 4:12 PM

How about send someone to investigate who doesn't have anthing to gain and will not be biased in their investigation and will see all the holes in these stories.

Adam said on Wednesday, Nov 4 at 11:04 AM

The police always knew where Kristina Kallies was. Her and her husband left a forwarding address and phone number when they PCSed to Texas.

jim said on Thursday, Oct 22 at 1:41 PM

This Tarum is a real ambulance chaser. 14 new cases. Your trying to thicking your wallet

Frank said on Thursday, Oct 22 at 12:49 PM

The police now know Kallies is in Texas. I thought Dectective Stinaik from East Middle School had already interviewed her before her and her husband PCS'd to Texas because he is in the military. Does it just look more dramatic if the police act like they didn't know where she was. Come on Great Falls, lets get a real investagation team in on this. Please send somebody in that can actualy do an investigation

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