Smitherman: Administrators have been working on strategies for several students

Herald Bulletin (Anderson, IN)

Jan. 25--ELWOOD -- The Elwood schools superintendent who turned herself in to police Wednesday for insurance fraud said Thursday that the student she was helping is one of several she has assisted.

Casey Smitherman said she did not have any romantic connection to the teen, whom she took to a clinic Jan. 9 because she thought he might have strep throat. Smitherman misidentified the boy as her son so that her medical insurance would pay for his treatment and prescription medicine. The total bill was $233.

The first-time superintendent said the 15-year-old boy is just one of many students she has sought to help.

"The administrators and I have been working on strategies for a variety of students who have not been coming to school on a regular basis," Smitherman said.

About 75 percent of Elwood's 1,568 students are eligible for free or reduced-fee lunch, a measure of poverty. According to 2018 Madison County health rankings by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, about 5 percent of children are uninsured.

For one student, Smitherman said, she provided a set of beds because she was sleeping on the floor, and for another, she bought toiletries because he didn't have soap.

Smitherman's attorney, Bryan Williams, bristled at the suggestion that she gave the student preferential treatment over other students.

"I think if you ask around this community, this is who she is," he said. "That is part of the reason Elwood hired her is because she has that heart."

Smitherman on Wednesday apologized for misusing her insurance to pay for the 15-year-old's medical care, and the Elwood Community School Corp. board of trustees pledged its continued support for her.

On Jan. 9, Smitherman, 48, had been notified the student was not in school and went to his home to see why not. Once she arrived, the superintendent took the student to get something to eat and for a haircut.

"He had tried to cut his own, and it was a mess," she said.

He wasn't feeling well and was showing signs of strep throat, Smitherman said, so she took him to one clinic where he was denied pediatric care and then to another, where Smitherman committed insurance fraud.

Smitherman turned herself in under a warrant for arrest Wednesday to the Elwood Police Department, where she was charged with Level 6 felony insurance application fraud, Level 6 felony identity deception, Level 6 felony official misconduct and Class A misdemeanor insurance fraud. She was booked at 2:20 p.m. and released at 2:57 p.m. on $5,000 bond.

The matter already has been resolved through an Agreement for Withheld Prosecution, also signed on Wednesday with the Madison County Prosecutor's Office, dismissing the charges as long as Smitherman is not arrested in the coming 12 months.

Smitherman and her husband, Steve, started helping out the teen and his guardian, Charles Gerard, 97, a great-uncle, according to the probable cause affidavit. That assistance included buying clothing for the boy and cleaning the home in the 400 block of South 33rd Street.

The guardian was not home at the time she picked up the student Jan. 9, so she did not ask for consent, Smitherman said.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Smitherman told investigators she had avoided reporting the boy's living conditions to the Indiana Department of Child of Child Services because she did not want him placed in foster care. Educators and others who come in contact with children are required to report suspected abuse or neglect under Indiana law.

Nancy Vaughan, president of United Way of Madison County, said there are many reasons children might be uninsured. For instance, their family might have moved without notifying their insurance carrier.

"Some people just choose not to be insured. Some people might not know how to access insurance," she added.

But in most instances, Vaughan said, health care is available to children.

"There are options, and there are people to help connect to those options," she said.

One of those options is the Telehealth program available in Elwood Community Schools and Alexandria Community Schools. The distance health programs allow school officials to get diagnoses and treatment for students, reducing missed time from school.

Elwood's clinic, one of the first in the state, opened in 2016 in partnership with St. Vincent Medical Group, Managed Health Services, Indiana Rural Health Association, Aspire Indiana and St. Vincent Mercy Hospital.

Smitherman said it didn't occur to her on Jan. 9 to take the teen to the school district's telehealth clinic.

"I honestly thought the telehealth clinic was only for behavioral health," she said.

Alexandria's telehealth clinic at the elementary school opened in September in partnership with the Jane Pauley Community Health Center. Alexandria Superintendent Melissa Brisco said, if necessary, a student could be taken from the intermediate or high school to the elementary school to use the service.

But the key, Brisco said, is consent from the parent. Though parents sign a blanket telehealth consent form at the beginning of the school year, their consent is sought again once services are required.

"Even if we were to treat a child, we would call home to verify," she said. "Before we engage the nurse practitioner or doctor, we call the parent and say, 'We have little Johnny here.' We want to over-communicate as best we can in situations like that."

The number of people involved, from the teacher to the school nurse to the health care practitioner at Jane Pauley, provide a layer of protection from liability, too, Brisco noted.

Though the telehealth clinic usually pays for services through the parents' insurance, Brisco said she believes the Jane Pauley center has people on staff who can identify resources for students who don't have any.

National interest

Casey Smitherman's story has attracted national attention, with the school district receiving inquiries from "Good Morning America," "The Ellen Degeneres Show" and even "Saturday Night Live." As a result, she has had to retain Indianapolis-based Bohlson Group to help field the calls.

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