New York Daily News

Broke boy’s spirit

- BY BEN CHAPMAN

AN OUTRAGED Brooklyn mother says her son was forced to sit through school with two broken wrists that went unnoticed by teachers and staffers.

Krystal Alejandro plans to sue the city Department of Education over the injuries she says her 6-year-old boy Armani suffered on Dec. 18 at Public School 106 in Bushwick.

Alejandro said no one said anything about her son’s injuries when she picked him up from an after-school program. He complained that his hands were sore.

The first-grader pointed out scratches on his hands as he told his mother that he fell at the school playground, Alejandro said.

When Armani continued to complain about the pain in his hands that night, Alejandro took the boy to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where doctors told her that both of his wrists were fractured.

Since then, he’s been wearing two heavy casts on his arms and is too upset to return to class, Alejandro said.

“It’s like he can’t be a 6-year-old boy anymore,” said Alejandro, 30, a cashier. “I have to do everything for him because of his casts. It bothers him and he hates it.”

The child is in so much discomfort — and is so distraught after allegedly being left by school staffers with two untreated broken bones — that Alejandro is homeschool­ing him until his psychologi­cal and physical injuries start to heal.

She says PS 106 Principal Magaly Moncayo told her the incident happened on the playground just after classes ended and that the boy was supposed to be supervised by after-school workers.

Alejandro said Armani just told her he fell on a school jungle gym.

Moncayo didn’t respond to an email seeking comment, but Education Department spokeswoma­n Miranda Barbot said the school is looking into what happened.

“The safety of students and staff is our top priority,” Barbot said. “We are treating this with the utmost seriousnes­s, and it will be thoroughly investigat­ed.”

PS 106 enrolls 424 students, and it has earned mixed reviews from parents and teachers.

Order and discipline were maintained at the school, according to 85% of teachers polled in a 2017 survey. That’s above the city average of 82%.

The same questionna­ire asked educators if they would recommend the school to other families. About 83% said yes. That’s just below the city average of 85%.

Attorney Marcel Florestal said on Friday he plans to file a notice of claim against the city for failing to prevent Armani’s injuries with adequate supervisio­n.

Florestal said the school caused lasting harm to the boy, and the city must be held accountabl­e.

“The real issue is, there was no supervisio­n for kids on the playground,” Florestal said.

“None of the precaution­s were taken, and the lack of supervisio­n caused the incident.”

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