‘Just like a nightmare’
Mom says 3-year-old traumatized after being strapped to school chair
The mother of a 3-yearold boy strapped to a chair by three suspended BPS educators at a South Boston school last month is still in shock over the “punishment,” saying that the “abuse” has left her nonverbal son traumatized.
Anacelia Cuevas, 30, said she has pulled her son out of the James F. Condon School and is planning to sue the Boston Public Schools after duct tape and nylon straps were used to restrain her preschool-aged special needs child to a chair.
Contributing to the “nightmare,” Cuevas said, was that she didn’t learn of the incident for two weeks after it occurred, having been told by the state Department of Children and Families rather than Condon school or district officials — meaning that her son was suffering without being able to communicate with her as to why.
“He was basically placed there as a punishment,” Cuevas told the Herald. “I’m still in denial. I just was like, this is just like a nightmare. I still can’t believe it. The worst part is my son not being able to tell me, and then someone who’s supposed to be keeping him safe basically torturing him.
“I just don’t know what else to say. I’m in shock. I’m still in shock.”
The incident occurred Feb. 14 at the K-8 school, after a teacher who witnessed it reported the matter to the Department of Children and Families, according to Cuevas, who said she wasn’t informed until Feb. 28, when she heard from DCF.
A letter was sent home to pre-kindergarten families at Condon the same day Cuevas learned of the incident, informing them of the “inappropriate use of restraints.” The district confirmed the existence of an investigation three days later, on Sunday, and that multiple staffers were placed on leave.
The Herald has learned three staff members, at least one of whom is a teacher, have been suspended while the probe plays out.
Cuevas, however, said they should have all been fired, and was told they were “protected by the union” when she inquired about the disciplinary measure.
“It’s like a slap in the face,” the Hyde Park mother said. “It seems like the teacher has more protection than my son at this point.”
She pulled her son, who she described as being nonverbal with symptoms of autism but no formal diagnosis, and his identical twin — with similar but less severe symptoms — out of the Condon school and is planning to file a lawsuit.
While Superintendent of Schools Mary Skipper, who denounced the incident in a Sunday statement, and another district official have reached out and are working with Cuevas to find a new school for her boys, she said her preference is to enroll them in a more “safe place” outside the BPS system. The way the restraint was carried out, Cuevas said, indicated to her that it had been done before, in that the straps were handmade by the teacher for a regular chair and duct-taped to the floor.
Her son was not strapped into a mechanical restraining chair, she said, referring to equipment designed to help students with physical needs sit up straight in class.
Either way, the restraint used in this instance “is deeply concerning and goes against our values and policies as a school district,” Skipper said in a statement.
The letter sent to families by a different official stated that the district’s office of specialized services, formerly called the special education department, was in “direct contact with the school to support staff with proper district protocols regarding the use of student restraints.”
“The safety and well-being of our students is our No. 1 priority,” Skipper said. “We understand how difficult this has been for both our student and their family, and we will continue to work directly with them to provide all the support they need to feel safe and continue learning at BPS.”
Cuevas said the incident has left her son traumatized. He does not want to be restrained in a high chair at home, placed in a stroller, or strapped in with a seat belt in the car.
She’s at a loss as to how something like this could happen to such an “innocent” boy, even if he were having a “temper tantrum” at the time, which is the “only thing” she could think of as having led to the classroom restraint.
“I think this was malice,” Cuevas said. “I think the intentions were to restrain my child as a form of reprimanding him, and it is abuse. It is neglect, and it’s traumatizing. So no, I don’t think it was a misunderstanding. The teacher knew exactly what she was doing, and she’s been doing it for a while.”