Teacher's aide suspended after abuse allegations surface

A Lexington teacher's aide has been suspended after she was accused of abusing a child with autism.

[Doesnt Add Up 2Me]

Concerned parents don't alert the media. They make sure that their child is safe and bring concerns to the immediate attention of the school. What if the hidden cam session ended up in the child being killed or badly injured? Why put the child back in danger. Why not alert the school and make sure that no other child is in danger? The fact that the parents sent the video to the media to me says they've got money coming to them or they're looking for money. Maybe they don't want the autistic child and were hoping that the child was hurt or worse and they'd be down a child and up some money. Concerned parents dont alert the media unless a child is missing. Sorry.

[concerned mom]

if my child were abused i would want to protect her privacy and ask the media to politely respect our family.if they offered me money for the video i would tell them that they are sick sick people.i had a cousin who is autistic and we loved him very much when he was growing up.these parents are very very sad and shouldnt be parents.

[Parent]

Are you sure that the parents gave the video to a TV station?

No way a parent would deliberately start a media circus around something as delicate and sensitive as abuse of children, especially when it is happening in their OWN FAMILY!!!!

I say get this kid OUT of that home until a full investigation is completed of the parents!!!!

This poor child is not safe.

[Concerned Teacher]

I am grateful to the family for making the community aware of this abusive teacher as she worked in the schools for many years and in homes as a nanny. I am sure many of those families will need to seek treatment for their children now that they are aware of what has likely happened to their children. If this was an isolated incident, I would agree, but just as a child molester should be known to the community for public safety, this child abuser should also be. Because this video was made public a number of families have called police to aide in the investigation of the abuse of children in the class. The child is not identifiable in the video so it will not affect the child, but making the video public can protect the community from further harm from this teacher.

[concerned mom]

according to the police statement made to the Lexington Minuteman newspaper there has not been a single other complaint filed:

http://www.wickedlocal.com/lexington/news/x40...

so it looks like making the video public just started rumors and panic

why would the police say there have not been other incidents if there were?

[Concerned Teacher]

This story is almost two weeks old and was based on “rumors.” Since that questionable journalistic story quite a bit has happened. Many parents have reported concerns, the teacher was found guilty by the Department of Children and Families, and she was replaced at the school. The assistant district attorney is still investigating this case so it must be a large investigation to be taking such a long time to investigate. The complaints are probably going to the assistant district attorney who is investigating. Thanks again to the family for bringing public awareness to the issue of screening, training and supervision of teachers who work with disabled children. I hope Lexington does a better job of this in the future. Acknowledging the problems rather than trying to cover them up is the only way these problems will be solved. Clearly they have serious problems when a teacher like this is allowed to work in the school for four years. Kudos to whoever gave the video to the press. Reports said it was anonymous.

[Concerned Teacher]

It is interesting that you are writing all this from New York, NY on a local story. It just so happens that it is where the teacher is from! Surprise, surprise!

[concerned mom]

no i live in Boston. i guess my computer says ny but since i have autism in my family it caught my attention.

i didnt know that there were more complaints. thanks for the info. hopefully the papers will catch up so that we have accurate info.

[Kindergarden Parent]

Concerned Teacher wrote:

I am grateful to the family for making the community aware of this abusive teacher as she worked in the schools for many years and in homes as a nanny. I am sure many of those families will need to seek treatment for their children now that they are aware of what has likely happened to their children. If this was an isolated incident, I would agree, but just as a child molester should be known to the community for public safety, this child abuser should also be. Because this video was made public a number of families have called police to aide in the investigation of the abuse of children in the class. The child is not identifiable in the video so it will not affect the child, but making the video public can protect the community from further harm from this teacher.

Actually dozens of families saw the video and had no idea which children or classes or teachers were affected. Our reaction was to panic because we had no idea if our child was involved if they were were, what was done. The fear and speculation ran the gamut - to things that sicken me to even repeat. I would have greatly preferred that the school notify those families who could have been impacted, with clear information about the scope of the problem, so that we didn't have to be making late night phone calls and emails trying to figure out if the news report was true, how much of it was true, what it really meant to OUR child and who was affected (and who definately wasn't). THAT is why the LPD had to issue the statement that they did (journalistically correct or not).

YES, on bringing this forward. NO on the way it was done through the media.

And may I ask why a Concerned Teacher is internet blogging during school hours? Are you a Lexington teacher and are you blogging from school computers?

[Kindergarden Parent]

Concerned Teacher wrote:

This story is almost two weeks old and was based on “rumors.”........ Reports said it was anonymous.

And how do you think those 'rumors' started and got out of hand?

Reports did not say it was anonymous. I believe that the parents gave it to the media (a bizarre decision) or they made it generally public (ie - on you tube) and the media picked it up from the public domain.

Is the school aware that you are using their computers to blog during school hours?

[concerned Lexingtonian]

Concerned Teacher wrote:

This story is almost two weeks old and was based on “rumors.” Since that questionable journalistic story quite a bit has happened. Many parents have reported concerns, the teacher was found guilty by the Department of Children and Families, and she was replaced at the school. The assistant district attorney is still investigating this case so it must be a large investigation to be taking such a long time to investigate. The complaints are probably going to the assistant district attorney who is investigating. Thanks again to the family for bringing public awareness to the issue of screening, training and supervision of teachers who work with disabled children. I hope Lexington does a better job of this in the future. Acknowledging the problems rather than trying to cover them up is the only way these problems will be solved. Clearly they have serious problems when a teacher like this is allowed to work in the school for four years. Kudos to whoever gave the video to the press. Reports said it was anonymous.

So you are a Lexington teacher, posting from a school computer (unless you are running home to post things every hour) during school hours. You are accusing the Lexington school system of covering up information that they have a mandatory obligation to report and accusing them of being negligent in their duties to screen, train and supervise.
You have a strikingly good knowledge of how long DAs offices require to investigate allegations for a teacher.
If you are a Lexington school teacher I would say you are done.
My guess is that you are not a Lexington school teacher, which begs the question why you are posing as one and making allegations against the town of Lexington public schools.

[Peter]

The report by CW56 says that the video was given by parents to the POLICE.

How did it get to the media?

[Fred]

On the original story on Fox 25, the school superintendent says (or at least strongly implies) the video was given to Fox 25 before he saw it. He looked like someone who has just been sandbagged.

The teacher may well skate on this legally. If she does, the poster on the Yahoo group that named her should expect to be sued.

[Citizen]

Why would the teacher "skate" on this legally? According to the video and various news reports she choked the child, pulled his hair, smacked him on the back and yanked him up by the shirt. Isn't this is child abuse by any standard? The video of this teacher emotionally and physically abusing and frightening this poor little boy is so disturbing I cannot imagine anyone letting her "skate."

[Fred]

Citizen:
I haven't seen the full 45 minute video, but I've seen the 30 seconds on Fox news and the 5 minutes on YouTube. Both of those were inconclusive, in my opinion.
All the hysteria surrounding this would make you think the teacher was beating the hell out of the child. The YouTube video did not show this. The "choke" at 2:31 was from behind the neck and was very brief. Will the DA prosecute on this? Not obvious to me. Hence she may well "skate."

[Legal Mind]

A good attorney defending the aide (should the aide require such defense) would argue that the dissimination of the video into the media would so prejudice the public against the aide that a fair trial is not possible. Far greater criminals have skated on far lesser technicalities, so Fred is completely correct. The dissemination of the video has virtually insured that there could be no service of justice.

Paul Ash looked 'sandbagged' as one put it because he was surprised and he would be surprised because he didn't know. However being at the high level that he is, Mr. Ash surely would have been made aware of such a situation as a teachers aide allegedly being caught on tape allegedly abusing a young child. So what this says to me is that the parents disseminated the video or caused it to be disseminated or allowed it to be disseminated to the media, without proof or mitigating information, all while WITHHOLDING the information from the school administration, the organization in the BEST POSITION to suspend the aide and insure that other children are not hurt. The actions of the parents could not possibly have been to insure the safety of other children, therefore.

So the question is raised, why did the parents provide exclusive video to the media and inhibit precautionary measures by the school?

If they first notified the police, thinking that this was the proper first step (and a reasonable person might conclude that it is) and the POLICE withheld the information from the school administration during the interim time that the video was in the hands of the media, then the question becomes why did the POLICE knowingly withhold the information and that matter would need to be very carefully investigated.

As a grandfather of many and a father of several, I am quite sure that only the most irresponsible, foolish and callous of parents would cooperate with the media to provide exclusive footage of their child being abused, all the while knowing that the child's classmates might just be at risk during the time that they have promised not to bring the matter to the attention of the school administration.

While the video is disturbing it is not conclusive, and the systematic dissemination and withholding of information calls into question what the motives were of all involved.

[Citizen]

In the article that we are commenting on Dr. Ash says he knew about all of this on Friday and he is being questioned about this on Wednesday, five days later. He is not being sandbagged. He had five days to notify the parents at the school. The parents notified the school and then the police. The media was contacted annoymously according to reports almost a week later.

To say that the teacher only choked him for a brief time and that she might skate as a result is frightening. I am sure the voters will remember who let who skate because we need to send a message that no teachers should be choking our children even for a second!

[A concerned mom]

OK, while I get that everyone is concerned about how the story leaked to the press. Or the fact that there couldnt be a fair trial (they can always request a venue change if that becomes an issue).

The REAL issue here is the children.

NO child should be abused at school, period. No child should be hit at home by a teacher, or pinched so hard they fall to the ground, fear of physical retribution is NOT the way to teach a child with autism, and in fact it can, if not caught in time - harm them permanently ESPECIALLY if the child is non-verbal (and many in that classroom are). they will NEVER be able to tell you what happened, they will never be able to share their fear and pain, and the frustration over that for them must be enormous. Which can lead to huge behaivoral problems, that it is left for the parent not the school to sort out.

When it comes to Autism and abuse in the school unfortunately this is becomming more and more common place as the rates rise, and teachers who are NOT qualified be it emotionally OR academically are teaching these kids.

I dont care how the tape got out, all I care about is that this teacher NEVER works with children again. It is about protecting the kids, not the person who did this, they are the 1st priority.

[Voter 1]

I agree with jenoleary1 who wrote:
With all due respect, where is the outrage that a child was victimized?

Let's keep in mind that the SCHOOL decided not to tell parents of Lexington what was happening. Once the aide was on PAID administrative leave, it would have been quite easy for the SCHOOL to send home a note to all parents that there was a criminal allegation of a public employee and that employee had been removed from the school while the investigation was ongoing. Our school has an email system that could be used for just this type of information delivery. The SCHOOL chose NOT to do this. The SCHOOL could also have sent a note home to parents AFTER the story broke on the news to explain to parents what was happening and the SCHOOL chose not to do this. The SCHOOL could have contacted all current and previous students families that worked with this aide, and the SCHOOL choose not to do that either.

The parents of this child, on the other hand, have tried to tell the parents of Lexington what has happened. People shouldn't be questioning the intentions of these parents; they should be thanking them for exposing an abusive public employee and a SCHOOL administration that covered it up and continues to cover it up in hopes that it just will go away.

It is not the fault of the family that other parents in Lexington 'panicked' and woke their kids up in the middle of the night to check them out. With the absence of additional information, I don't doubt that parents panicked, as would I. Rather than bash the parents who made the town aware of a problem, parents should have demanded more information from the SCHOOL. And it was only because of the rumors that were detrimental to the reputation of the SCHOOL that a statement was released by the SCHOOL and police to end the rumors.

It is also not the fault of the parents of this child that someone on a treadmill who did not hear the verbal commentary did not go further investigate the story before dragging their child out of bed. That was a poorly thought out response rooted in a knee-jerk reaction.

Lets take out the fact that this was a child with autism. It is still a video of a child being victimized by a trusted adult. It is a risk to all children, not just disabled ones. If anyone thinks this aide is the only one who was a trusted person who abused a child, lets ask the Nanny-Cam companies why they are making so much money these days.

It absolutely was not a random person pulling a random child with autism off the street. It was a TRUSTED employee of a Lexington SCHOOL that ABUSED a child while on the JOB. That makes it worse, not better.

If someone has a problem with the lack of information about what has happened and continues to happen in the Lexington schools, question the SCHOOL administration. Don't question the parents intentions. They had nothing to gain but EVERYTHING to lose, as exampled by the previous comments questioning the parents and hoping they are investigated.

[upset]

Voter 1 wrote:

I agree with jenoleary1 who wrote:
With all due respect, where is the outrage that a child was victimized?
. Rather than bash the parents who made the town aware of a problem, parents should have demanded more information from the SCHOOL. And it was only because of the rumors that were detrimental to the reputation of the SCHOOL that a statement was released by the SCHOOL and police to end the rumors.
It is also not the fault of the parents of this child that someone on a treadmill who did not hear the verbal commentary did not go further investigate the story before dragging their child out of bed. That was a poorly thought out response rooted in a knee-jerk reaction.
Lets take out the fact that this was a child with autism. It is still a video of a child being victimized by a trusted adult. It is a risk to all children, not just disabled ones. If anyone thinks this aide is the only one who was a trusted person who abused a child, lets ask the Nanny-Cam companies why they are making so much money these days.
It absolutely was not a random person pulling a random child with autism off the street. It was a TRUSTED employee of a Lexington SCHOOL that ABUSED a child while on the JOB. That makes it worse, not better.
If someone has a problem with the lack of information about what has happened and continues to happen in the Lexington schools, question the SCHOOL administration. Don't question the parents intentions. They had nothing to gain but EVERYTHING to lose, as exampled by the previous comments questioning the parents and hoping they are investigated.

When you send things out into the media you invite speculation and create a lawless circus which is ALWAYS rooted in money.
Hear me again: The media might convince you that they are all about protecting your children but their job is to get you to give them information so that they can grab an audience. They are not mandatory reporters. They do not even have to report the 'whole truth'. They can skew facts as much as they like to insure that they capture the tens of thousands, ALL OVER BOSTON, not just in Lexington.
Causing a panic and impeding fair process IS a problem. Don't blame inexperienced parents for overreacting. Not eveyone knows what to do with TV info. We do not live in a lawless land Ms. O'Leary. You should know that.
Once the aide was on leave, nothing further was going to happen. It's not like children had hidden internal bleeding that left unchecked was going to kill them.
Where is the outcry for the children of Roxbury, the children of Mattapan, the children of Lawrence, who go to school every day afraid of violence and assult.
Nobody wants a child to get hurt. NOBODY. When you notify the school and notify the police there have to be records and you can get copies of them (you especially!) and can put together a story of how the situation was mishandled.
I want outcry for my kids, but when one of them gets KILLED in a black neighborhood, people look on the news and if it's not a wealthy white child, they don't really feel the injustice.