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Subscribe to RSSTwo New Jersey school janitors are under investigation for allegedly using yellow caution tape to tie up four young boys in a bathroom.
Sources within the Long Branch, N.J., school system indicate the employees thought they were "horsing around" with the Gregory Elementary School students, who are all under 10 years old.
For more, visit NBCNewYork.com.
"Regardless of their intent, it was a stupid decision they made," said Long Branch Superintendent Michael Salvatore, who reported the incident to police and the Monmouth County Prosecutor.
The boys, from two different classrooms, went to use the restroom and found the workers there, according to Salvatore. Procedure calls for a facility to be closed when work is being done inside, he added.
Salvatore said it was his understanding that yellow caution tape may have been used on the boys. He added he was not told they appeared distressed.
Nonetheless, he said the students did report the incident to the school's principal, who then contacted the central office.
According to Salvatore, investigators with the prosecutor's office are now handling the incident. He said he knew of no charges being filed at this time.
The two maintenance employees, one of whom is a plumber, had been sent to the school to make some repairs in the bathroom.
Both workers were sent home early and have since been suspended from their jobs.
One source who talked with the employees told NBC New York that the workers are "devastated" by how this turned out and that at no point was it intended as anything more than just having fun.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
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The janitors wasn't sent there to have fun but to do a job and move on.It's just another example of an adult going too far and now the consequences may be the loss of their job. The janitors are the adults in this situation and should have acted as such.
Well, you are no fun at all, are you.
(and no, don't take this seriously)
practical, common sense was Not part of their thinking..didn't they Realize, Horsing around with students Like that, was Not Part of Their Job??..stupid people, making stupid decisions is all i can say..Now they'll be Hurting for a PAY CHECK........
Stupid country, always blowing things out of proportion. Janitors have gone too far? Seriously? In a country were sex predators, serial killers, parents and all kind of creeps do harm kids every day, a harmless joke is "gone too far". The workers should be reprimanded for bad judgement, that's all.
What the hell is up with jeeesus' capitalization and punctuation skills? Holy crap! Seriously. I mean, come on!
Dave, NON YA !!!......none yaa damn business, as Long as i'm Understood...SHEEESH !!!........BTW, Crap is NOT HOLY, D/A........
Dear MSNBC and readers,
This is NOT a HEADLINE news story. You provided very little INFORMATION and TONS of poor information lacking any value to discuss.
There is nothing here to comment on.
This article is nothing more then a sensational headline to make you mad, angry and clearly a diversion from the REAL issues in the world today ....and your neighborhood.
No comment on this anger inciting article with NO substance at all and NO facts at all.
MSNBC is seriously more pathetic then FOX news and that is saying allot
Agreed Shosyn...somehow I picture the kids going in there and talking down to the janitors, but who knows what really happened, not that that would justify them being tied up.
I bet if they found Jesus's tomb and there was a preserved Christ poop in it, you'd consider it holy.
And seriously, what you're doing to the English language is atrocious.
Even if the boys were acting out, (quite possible for 10 year olds, boys or girls) the maintence guys do not have the authority in the school to discipline them. It would have been far wiser, (if the kids were misbehaving) for one of the men to go the nearest teacher or hall monitor and report the misbehavior while the other remained in the bathroom to make sure the kids didn't cause any damage or hurt themselves.
Most adults have no right to put their hands on a child that is not theirs. It's a simple fact of the times we live in. If you are a store or shop owner/manager and a child is stealing you have the right to restrain them for the police. If you are a stranger and see a child about to run into traffic or into another dangerous situation, then you can restrain him or her. If you are an educator, police officer, health care worker and a child is violently trying to harm him/herself or others then you have the right to restrain him or her, (in fact you have a duty to do so). Anyone else under any other circumstances does not have the right to restrain a child in any way.
WOW...A lot of English teachers on here...who gives a rats azz...lighten up and have fun with our language because not too far in the near future we wont have English in the USA, we will all be speaking latin!
It's just a joke. The janitors called them sluts. See, it's funny. Right?
You do know that Latin Americans don't speak-- ahhh, nevermind....
When I was a kid,this would have been just screwing around. Today it's a big deal.
Only good news about this..there is two new job openings there.
mary jones - i agree with you
mike227 - very very good - lets apply lol
While I agree with you Mary, times have changed. There are too many kooks out there looking to molest or kill our kids. They had no business doing something like that. While I do believe that our society tends toward too much PC for our own good, the touching any child that is not yours is a definite NO. Period. End of conversation.
They should be fired.
Sometimes things go way too far....in this instance the "authorities" have gone too far.
When it becomes a crime to have good natured play with kids this society has become too paranoid.
Probably shouldn't have done it, but these are blue collar workers, not professionals with degrees in proper 21st century social behavior.
hmmm its a shame and a damn tragedy when MSNBC is trolling the vine it created.
jeeesus - comment #1.5 - yes it is, when it comes out of the holy cows in India!
"A Joke?" or as in post 1.18 " good natured play with kids..."
This is no joke, this is not funny, this is not a game. This is child abuse! Children can't go to the bathroom to spring a leak without some perverted creeps accosting them?
Then the janitors get "time out" and on second thought "suspension?"
What about these children? How is this impacting them? The article neglects to report the most important information.
If I was a parent of one of these children I would have called the police, pressed charges, and had them in jail.
No I take that back. If this had been my ten year old that they touched I would have taken my baseball bat to the janitors and beat the living @^%# out of them.
Uncool
Where did you get
Out of this?
Nobody has made any claim it was anything other than general horse play.
Probably just your mind and how it works that thinks anything and everything between an adult and a child must be perverted.
Sorry for whatever happened to you.
When I was young you probably would have filed charges against my football coach and wrestling coach for showing us how to do something.
JOregon --
"When it becomes a crime to have good natured play with kids this society has become too paranoid."
Having good-natured play with your own children is one thing, although even that can be questionable, depending on its form and content. However, NO ONE has a right to have this type of "fun" with a child he is in no way related to or responsible for. Their claim that they were just having fun is meaningless, since there is no way to tell what type of enjoyment they were getting from the experience.
Janitors will be added to the ever-expanding list of child molesters posing as teachers, coaches, etc.
Just
If an investigation shows something significant that is one thing. Mostly what we have on this msg board are a lot of people imagining horrible things.
I'll reserve judgment until a full description of what happened is reported.
So far we know that they didn't appear to be distressed, which tells me they understood it was just horseplay. There is no evidence anything evil happened.
Yeah they were just joking around, just like Jerry Sandusky was just joking around with those 12 boys he sexual molested!!!! Like my husband and I were talking about a couple of days ago that we are glad we have no children that we would have to put in public schools and then worry every day that they are going to come home crying that someone was "just joking" around with them. It is a shame that we have to worry like this, people should just home school their kids and close all the schools.
andre
There have not been ANY reports that these boys were naked in the shower with flesh on flesh sounds going on.
I'm pretty glad you don't have kids either, the last thing they need is a paranoid parent.
I raised four. Now I have Grand kids. I really don't worry about that kind of stuff. It never happened to my children and I am fairly confident it never happened to any of their friends. If it did happen to one of their friends most likely it was abuse by a relative or family friend.
There seems to be no questions that what happened in this case was just a matter of horsing around. No sexual assault was reported. The kids showed no sign of distress or anxiety.
Mountains out of molehills.
I don't get how so many of you seem to be so open to their "horsing around" excuse! These were adult men who tied these kids up-restrained them for cryin out loud-with caution tape, how is that merely "horsing around?? It could likely be considered assualt and battery. The kids obviously were distressed by it or why would they have gone to the office to report it? I'm not saying there was any intent to molest, as there is no information present here to suggest that, but tying them up crosses a line.
What's this world coming to, when you can't even tie up a couple ten year old ruffians?!!! -Sheeeeesh!
Anyway! I remember when my sons were 10....
Glenn - agree. We seem to have lost our sense of humor when it comes to adults having fun with kids.
Yea, onejulia, that's what Sandusky said -- just horsin' around and having fun with the kids... what's wrong with that?
Parents shouldn't be concnered with that at all, right?
Yep, when at work now days you dont do the following:
1. Don't talk about personal stuff.
2. Don't make jokes.
3. Don't make compliments.
4. Don't smile at a female employee when she is talking, looking or near you.
5. Don't mess around with another employee like a gag or prank.
6. Dont send funny, stupid or any non-related Work e-mails to other employees.
In today's world people will take theses as harassment or worst and get you fired.....
Welcome to PC world of Liberalism. Is life not fun now....
Liberals only believe in tolerance when it agrees with their political agenda. If not, then they demonize it.
I agree with everything in your post up until your reference to liberals. That word is one of the most misused words in use today.
LIBERAL: a : of, favoring, or based upon the principles of liberalism b capitalized : of or constituting a political party advocating or associated with the principles of political liberalism; especially : of or constituting a political party in the United Kingdom associated with ideals of individual especially economic freedom, greater individual participation in government, and constitutional, political, and administrative reforms designed to secure these objectives
Instead of using that term, the term WHINER should be used.
Kat - not all fun between adults and kids is dirty and nasty. As an adult, I love playing around with all the kids during holiday parties and summer bbqs. Not all adults who love horsing around with kids are pedophiles.
You use an out of date definition. Language is evolving faster than you can imagine. The new definition is:
Liberal: anyone who believes that anything is permissible in the name of tolerance.
Liberal - person who immediately becomes a conservative right after the revolution.
Yes, please don't.
Honestly, if you thought that was acceptable office behavior, you're probably that annoying co-worker that everyone hates because they fire up their inbox every morning and see 30 "FWD: fwd: fwd: fwd: fwd: re: re: OMG THIS CAT IS SOOOOOOOO CUUUUTTTEEE!!!!!1" emails. Work email is for exactly that: work email ONLY. If you're such besties with all your co-workers, just text them.
Used to be a liberal was just a conservative with both feet planted firmly in mid-air, and a coservative was a liberal who had just been mugged.
These days the terms just mean 'someone I like' and 'someone I don't like', and which word goes with which definition depends on the personal tastes of the individual doing the liking and disliking.
'Conservatives' have abandoned all of their former principles. And no one knows what 'liberal' means.
Liberal means wrong, doesn't it? Or does it mean Nazi? Or does it mean terrorist?
Chris-629698: Nope I dont e-mail anyone unless its work related. Just saying what I seen people get fired for in the past 6 months.
Right wing conservative.....person who shoots all the liberals not doing a satisfactory job of posing as right wing conservatives after the revolution.
Liberal = One who accepts playing for the other team.
Conservative = One who secretively wants to play for the other team.
Independent = One who is way confused and undecided to which team they should play for.
It's all fun until someone gets hurt.
They finally had enough of the Plumbers Crack jokes from those little punks!
Yup, just a little fun! Two grown men tie up four ten year old boys. Just another day of fun fun fun!
Does anyone have any sense at all???
Hell back in my school days I had to worry about other kids going around doing this with jump ropes. They were just having fun with other students, but now days theses kids will be charged with assault. Hell just the other week my kids school sent home a paper about a kid who grabbed another kids backside (pinched the other kids rear end) well that kid turned around and knocked down that kid and started to kick that kid. Both kids were suspended and both are possibly are going to be charged with assault. This was in a 1st grade class.
Again welcome to Liberalism....
Again welcome to Liberalism....
Again, welcome to ignorance in the face of political rhetoric.
I was thinking the same thing.. Why would someone tie up lil 10 yo to have fun.
Funny would be if they were wise cracking teens that got what they had coming to them.. I think some people are forgetting that 10 is like 4th grade or something. Obviously the kids were threatened by it they went a told the principal....
So you guys are saying it's conservative to tie up little boys with tape?
I haven't heard anyone come out and admit that proudly before, but . . . actually I dunno. Kinda speechless.
I hear it's part of Santorum's speech tonight...only non-Christian, brown, poor, or homosexual little boys of course.
Or had to explain where they had been for so long?
Nah, not likely since teachers never concern themselves where children in their charge are or what they are up to. (sarcasm)
"Hey, you kids can't use this restroom, we're working here." Oh yeah, what you gonna do, whoop me? He he!" "No. how bout I tie you up? You won't....'sticth/wrap/bow'..... "There, now what you gonne do kid?"
Probably all in fun, too bad.
GovHater, how exactly did your small mind turn this into a liberal/conservative issue? 1. The men were there to fix the plumbing. 2. They were not there to entertain the kids. 3. They were not there to disipline the kids. 4.tying someone up especially younger,smaller,weaker, than you is no joke.
I didn't, I was referring to Leatherneck's post above, he and others were the ones linking it to liberalism, read again.
Pretty creepy.
LMFAO! Go Janitors! loools.
Janitors, like anyone else that is "on the clock" have no business doing that. there are no politics here...just good old fashioned common sense. They should get fired and potentially charged with kidnapping...ha ha ha!!
It would be nice if the media actually found out what happened first instead of jumping on a story and making it sound evil. Did they "tie them up" as the headline says, or were the boys playing around and the workers just participated? Was it sinister or harmless fun? Inappropriate, sure. Not a lot of info though, and always trying to turn things bad.
What makes me cringe even more, though, is one report I read said the school would be reviewing surveillance cameras to view the incident. There are cameras in the restrooms at this school?!?! Now THAT is creepy!!
When I was in school years back, the janitors were thought as like friends. No doubt what they did was harmless. Now the parents will look for a big media splash and a spot on the Today show for their five minutes of fame.
MSNBC must be really desperate for some real news.
The janitor in my elementary school was old, creepy, and always smelled like moth balls.
McLovin - how the hell did you know how the janitor smelled like? hmmmm.....
Puisher, he meant to say he had sweaty balls!
never mind the janitor I wanna know how you ever got your nose between their tiny little legs.
How about the one where the guy wants to buy a shaving brush, the clerk says we've got camel hair, horse hair and elephant hair. The customer says elephants don't have hair! The clerk say moths don't have balls either but we sell them down on the first floor.
The American sense of humor has died. No one was hurt or meant to be hurt. Geez - lighten up.
See #9.5
As a Catholic,maybe I'm hyper about this kind of story.There is no indication of anything sexual,so it's is just these guys being dummies.Not to disparage all plumbers. Lighten up.It's like everyone is shell-shocked-jumping at everything.Or maybe it WAS inappropriate enough-IDK
Oh come on, the janitor was just tring to say stop horseing around. It builds charactor for these kids. I don't see what the overreation is all about.
Chris150 - you cannot be serious. Sandusky said he was just horsing around with his victims.Perhaps I am over sensitive but I live in the next town and my niece and nephew went to this shcool. Even if nothing was supposed to go on (yeah, right) this is just not done. And according to the TV news, they were suspended WITH pay.
Pat you probably in a way are over sensitive... especially being so close to the Sandusky geography.
Yes they would be suspended WITH pay while things are investigated. It is called DUE PROCESS. No accusations were made beyond the tape as far as we know.
In light of the current sensitivity of adults being around children it was completely stupid. 30 or so years ago there would have been a lecture at worse to ALL involved, now it is National Enquirer material.
It is a shame that we FEAR adults being role models for our kids this day and age. YES there are some very BAD apples out there but now every adult has to look over their shoulder for fear of false accusation when involved in at any level with a child, including their own, it seems. It has come to the point that if "Johny" doesn't get their way they threaten to play the pedo card. Sadly, once that card is played the adult suffers permanently even when nothing has happened. At least in this case all involved agree it was horseplay and only involved the caution tape.
trust agree, Pat I guess keep your kids away from me at all times, I don't want to get the sued for smiling at them.
A verbal or maybe a written reprimand is needed here. It was just a bad decision made in having fun. I really don't believe the workers had any intent to harm those students in any way.
We are becoming a society of political correctness, and are being far too serious. Were the children harmed? I don't think so. Did the janitors threaten or meanace the children, I don't know, this story is incomplete. Seriously, the things people did when I was a child would put you behind bars for years now days, and would certainly make headlines today. I remember a teacher duct-taping a student to his chair because he wouldn't sit down.
I don't condone tying up children, and what these Janitors did was stupid, no doubt. But people need to lighten up a bit as well.
Suspend them for a week, make them apologize to the students and their parents
Remember, they are janitors. I doubt if they are trained for these kind of situations. They were probably just doing what had been done to them when they were kids. No harm, no foul, just trying to teach the little brats some manners they were not taught at home.
Have them apologize and be done with it, but lets also find out what caused the situation. If that would have happened to me when I was a kid, I surely would not have gone to the principal because the principal would have called my parents and I would have been in deep doo doo.
This isn't political, I just cannot stand the man because he's a hypocrite, but if Newt had his druthers the kids would be fixing their own damned toilet.
Creepy is an understatement. With all the child predictors and sex crimes being committed on school property, those under 10 kids probably go the the sh*t scared out of them.
You can say what you want about being a joke, and If you find this funny, and not a really creepy, you have a very weird sense of humor.
I feel like that tried to be English...
The English language is on line one demanding an apology.
Actually in any other situation it may have been funny. Perhaps even at the moment it was funny for all involved, only the people there really know the details. Weird sense of humor? Lighten up already. No one was harmed and there does not seem to be intent to do harm. Obviously Steven100 never played Cowboys and Indians or Cops and Robbers as a child. That it was unrelated adults involved was out of line perhaps but again no harm no real foul.
As to being "really creepy" is that this made NATIONAL news and people are reacting so extremely with no real details. Calling the adults involved stupid is one thing, thinking the worst with so few facts calls into question the thought processes of those reacting so negatively.
Steven100, wow I didn't know all the schools in this country had child predictors, that is just amazing don't you think? Maybe we can ask all these child predictors how the stocks will do in a couple of years? Better yet, I want to ask if I will be making more money in the future with a better job.
Sad that the perverted few have turned adult interaction with kids into a social pariah. A quick hug or pat on the head from a teacher? Improper! A stranger asking a child for directions? Suspicious! An adult stranger publicly telling a misbehaving child to behave? Outrageous! When I was young, I gave directions to adults, visited a teacher or two in their homes, got a ride home from school with a teacher, got pats on the head from friendly neighbors next door and our from our old, parish priest, and had generally good interaction with adults, in the context of the larger community that we were all part of. I understand the need for caution regarding this today, but wonder where the innocence went - and if our kids will be the better for it's loss. Being safe AND mistrustful, seeing possible evil intent in every adult-child interaction, hardly seems like a good thing.
Nikolaus20
I agree 100%. It is a SAD world we live in where we distrust everyone, even our own family and friends, never mind those who used to be respected simply due to their line of work.
There is no gray area or anything else to suggest that what the workers did was okay. Regardless of how anyone perceives this, you don't do what they did. They have absolutely no relationship with these kids and don't know them in any way. Just a stupid decision on their part that is going to cost them alot.
LIBERAL: A career In Ignorance!
CONSERVATIVE: A career in fear, hatred, intolerance, and hypocrisy.
Sounds like you both need to get over your fear, hatred, intolerance and hypocrisy.
Janitor/Plumber gets fired... problem solved
Janitor/Plumber gets jail time... punishment getting out of hand just like the Janitor/Plumber.
But what did the parents or the students have to say about this?
In this day and age, even if it was in fun, it will not be seen as such. If there was bad intent, which I wouldn't condone, that's one thing. But it's got to where one can't talk to a kid, or smile at a kid, or interact with a kid without a lawyer. Not everyone is a bad person, and some only are trying to be nice or amuse a kid.
What the h#ll, it was just kids. We all know kids in this society are nothing any way. Just look at the headlines on a daily basis. Killed, abused, neglected, kept in boxes at school, tied up by plumbers. It's okay, no big deal. You people who think this kind of behavior is a joke and it's alright for adults to treat kids this way are in need of psychiatric help. I thought it was the responsibility of adults to look after children. What has happened to people?
lacywild
see my post #16.3 - Mon Mar 5, 2012 2:16 PM EST
My question exactly. And as to the responsibility thing... right there with common sense, which the majority seem not to have these days. The janitors JOB was to watch the plumber fix the plumbing not watch the children. That they got distracted and into some mischief with the children has not been proven to be more than stupid mischief and until then how about we all reserve judgement until proven otherwise.
Good afternoon, trust_verify. Always enjoy reading your post. I wasn't implying that it was the plumbers job to watch these kids. I was just expressing, in general, that we as a society should be responsible for our actions with kids. I feel we are failing our children in a grand way and it makes me really sad.
Hello lacy... I did not know I had a following lol.... I agree we HAVE FAILED the next generation and maybe a few before and after. While I agree that anyone accosting a child needs to be locked away forever we, as a society, need to stop over reacting before we have the facts but gather the facts and determine what really happened. Sandusky is guilty in the court of public opinion and from the details leaked so far more than likely IS guilty. By his own admission of some of the details, showering with children, he is likely guilty of not having morals and certainly felony stupidity. With what we know in THIS specific case is no where near what we suspect of Sandusky, there is no attempted cover up, but probably approaching felony stupid. That it made this level of news was felony stupid as well.
Some day, hopefully sooner than later, parents will grow up and be parents again rather than high school sophomores dealing in gossip, rumors, and innuendo. That goes for the non parents as well. Yes children need to be protected but they also need to be allowed to grow up. There is a vast difference between shielding and sheltering someone from the world. Shielding allows the to see the world and be protected from harm, sheltering means they never learn what evil is out there and thus never learn to deal with it appropriately.
Just my opinion, again lacking all the details, but this with inappropriate fun due to the location and relation between the adults and children involved. It has gotten blown out of proportion in light of recent events putting a spotlight on all adult/child interactions, much like the Salem Witch Hunts. How many people would be burned at the stake on hearsay today had that event happened now simply because they did not conform to "the norms" of some segment of society?
There is no way this can be right, period. Adults are acting like children. What happened to the ability to make good decisions. Crazy and stupid!
Seriously people.. Do any of you have kids? How would you feel if your sons or daughters came home from school and said Mom, Dad, the janitor tied me up in the bathroom today?.. I bet at least half of the dads would go looking for the janitor personally