This from The Huffington Post:
When Stuart Chaifetz sent his 10-year-old son to New Jersey's Horace Mann Elementary School wearing a hidden audio recorder, he couldn't have predicted what he would uncover.
The move came in reaction to accusations from the school that his son Akian was having "violent outbursts," including hitting his teacher and teacher's aide -- claims that Chaifetz claims are against his son's "sweet and non-violent" nature
Akian, who has Autism, returned with a tape containing hours of apparent verbal and emotional abuse from his classroom aide and teacher -- whom Chaifetz identifies as "Jodi" and "Kelly" -- a recording which his father later published on YouTube.
The Feb. 17 recording started with Akian's aide and the teacher, whom Collingswood Patch provides evidence may be Jodi Sgouros and Kelly Altenburg, respectively, based on a previously published online staff directory.
The two engage in inappropriate conversations, like joking about their alcohol abuse and sex lives in front of their students -- all of whom have behavioral conditions and, according to Chaifetz, communication difficulties that prevent them from relaying the conversations to their parents.
"You would never get away with talking about your alcohol abuse the night before if this was a mainstream class," Chaifetz says in the YouTube video. "And that's the point, isn't it? They knew none of those boys could go home and tell their parents that the person who ran that class was under the influence of alcohol and was throwing up."
As the tape continues, the teacher and teacher's aide's behavior turns from inappropriate to cruel.
"Who are you talking to, nobody?" Kelly asked Akian, who sometimes talks to himself. "Knock it off," Jodi chimed in.
According to the video, Akian became upset, and starting crying.
"Go ahead and scream because guess what? You're going to get nothing until your mouth is shut," the classroom official is heard saying. "Shut your mouth."...
1 comment:
This video was extremely shocking to me. I can not believe how some teachers act towards students. Saying hurtful words to children in the first place is wrong, but to say it to children with special needs is extremely wrong. I do believe that this teacher should apologize. It is morally wrong to act that way, and why would you act that way if you want to be an educator? Personally, if you do not like your job or the students you are teaching then get out of the environment. I am on the track to becoming an educator and this makes me think of how any parent can put a tape recorder or a video camera in a back pack and expose the truth. This video is an eye opener for all educators and educators to be.
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