Teachers accused of abuse won’t be charged
Spokesperson: Police closed case after reviewing video footage
Criminal charges won’t be filed against two teachers who parents accused of swearing at and physically abusing autistic kindergartners.
Cursing, the sound of slapping and the young students’ screams and cries can be heard on a recording of the Pembroke Pines elementary school teacher and a teacher’s aide, a police report says.
A spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office said the case was not formally presented by law enforcement, although the police department consulted with prosecutors during their investigation.
“It is our understanding that the police department closed the case after reviewing all of the evidence, including several hours of video footage,” said spokeswoman Paula McMahon, and prosecutors agreed with the police department’s decision.
The teacher was identified by parents as Tahisha-Ann Brown. The union confirmed her teacher’s aide was Joyce Latricia Bradley.
After one of the students swore at home, his parents sent him to school with a recording device attached to his backpack. They sent their findings to authorities, which included a recording of the teachers allegedly lashing out at students, many of whom have trouble communicating.
The “authenticity” of the audio had never been verified and “it doesn’t prove the teachers cursed at children — they could have been talking to each other,” said Anne Fusco, the teachers union president. “They didn’t do anything wrong.”
In May when the allegations surfaced, Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie met with the parents of seven children in the Pasadena Lakes Elementary classroom where the two educators allegedly verbally and physically mistreated their specialneeds students.
Runcie vowed at that meeting that the teacher and the aide would never work in Broward County again, parents said. School district spokeswoman Nadine Drew said Wednesday an administrative investigation was ongoing and “both employees were reassigned to a location with no student contact.”
The teacher’s aide had been charged once before.
Bradley was arrested and
charged with misdemeanor battery on a student after a 10-year-old boy went home with bruises on his arm. State prosecutors eventually elected not to pursue criminal charges in the 2014 incident.
Fusco said the employees are entitled to due process and they “are entitled to work again. They were not guilty. They are coming back to work. We have contracts. We have laws that you don’t just dismiss people. Private corporations have that right, but we work for the public.”
Attorney Martin Berger, who is representing three of the families, said Wednesday “we’re disappointed but we’re not surprised” when told about the State Attorney’s Office decision.
Jason Segelbaum, whose 5-year-old son was in the kindergarten class, said he has lobbied state officials for a bill that would allow audio and video cameras in special-needs classrooms.