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Subscribe to RSSStuart Chaifetz, the father of the autistic boy who was allegedly bullied by educators, tells msnbc's Thomas Roberts that he wants the head teacher fired.
The former teacher of an autistic boy allegedly mistreated by staff at a New Jersey school did not call him "a bastard" or make other harsh comments that were secretly recorded by the child's father, her lawyer said in a statement.
The statement also accused the boy's father, Stuart Chaifetz, of putting the teacher, Kelly Altenburg, and her family "in harms way," and said she wasn't even in the room for part of the day.
Chaifetz, 44, put a recording device on his son Akian, 10, and captured audio of staff in his class at Horace Mann Elementary School in Cherry Hill calling him names and laughing at him. Chaifetz said he was trying to get to the bottom of why teaching staff said his son was acting out in class. He later posted the audio on YouTube after what he described as inaction by the school board.
After the recording emerged, Cherry Hill schools put out a statement saying that "individuals who are heard on the recording raising their voices and inappropriately addressing children no longer work in the district and have not since shortly after we received the copy of the recording.”
At least one classroom aide reportedly lost her job, but the state's largest teachers union said that because Altenburg had been transferred to another school, and not fired, she had been exonerated of making the remarks. Cherry Hill Superintendent Maureen Reusche, however, said "the investigation remains ongoing."
Chaifetz, an investigator with an animal protection group, Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, or SHARK, has said he believes Altenburg was one of those making offensive comments in the classroom, and that as the teacher in charge, she should be held responsible for what he considers "bullying" behavior by other staff.
He decided to put a wire on Akian after getting repeated complaints that the child was hitting teaching staff and throwing chairs. He could not understand why his son would act in this way and decided to try to find out what was going on in the classroom. Akian's autism made it difficult for him to explain what was happening.
Chaifetz, speaking in a YouTubevideo that contained clips from the February recording, said the tape revealed that staff at the school were "literally making my son's life a living hell" by calling him a "bastard," telling him to "shut up," and apparently mocking his desire to see his dad.
When Stuart Chaifetz, a father in Cherry Hill, N.J., was told his autistic son was acting uncharacteristically violent at school, he sent him to class wearing a hidden recording device that caught a teacher on tape bullying students. NBC's Jeff Rossen reports.
Shortly after Chaifetz posted the video, it went viral, and had garnered more than 3.4 million views as of Friday morning. An online petition to "pass legislation so that teachers who bully children are immediately fired" had 128,000 signatures.
Dad wires up autistic son, 10, to expose 'bullying' by teaching staff
The statement from Altenburg's lawyer said the accusations had "hurt her deeply" and she wanted to "set the record straight."
"Mr. Chaifetz ... has been disingenuous in his assertions and has failed to advise the public accurately, including the fact that for at least approximately one hour in the beginning of the day at issue, Mrs. Altenburg was not even in the classroom with Mr. Chaifetz's son," the lawyer, Matthew B. Wieliczko, wrote in the emailed statement. He said she was at a "Professional Learning Community Meeting" that morning.
The statement said she had not made the comments Chaifetz attributed to her. In fact, Wieliczko said, the comments were "not even made in her presence."
He said there was "no basis, either legal or truthful" for Altenburg to be held accountable for the words and actions of others "which occurred outside of her presence and without her knowledge."
"We request that parents, students, the public in general, as well as Mr. Chaifetz and the news media outlets respect the basic right not to pre-judge this matter or jump to unwarranted and inaccurate conclusion," Wieliczko said.
But on Friday, Chaifetz dismissed the importance of Altenburg's assertion that she wasn't in the classroom for the first hour, saying that "the bullying and inappropriate comments happened throughout the day."
"And there are times when you can specifically hear her. She talks about me at the beginning of the day, she talks about other parents," he told msnbc's Thomas Roberts. " … pretend the first hour didn't happen. everything else adds up to that teacher should not be in that classroom in my opinion. It was just wrong. The entirety of that day was just wrong."
Pat Gesualdo, president of the nonprofit group Drums and Disabilities, said Friday that he had filed a complaint with the Department of Justice alleging that Akian’s civil rights as a disabled person had been violated by the school system, including his teacher and the school.
He said it was filed for two reasons: to push for the removal or resignation of Altenburg and to hold all of the players involved accountable. Chaifetz was not involved in the complaint, said Gesualdo, whose group helps special needs individuals through drum therapy.
Speaking to msnbc.com Thursday, Steve Wollmer, communications director for the New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, said Altenburg was “very serious about her work, really sees it as her life’s calling and is very good at it.”
In an earlier interview, he said that "before people accuse people of things, they want to know if they're accusing them fairly or accurately."
Autistic boy's father: Why hasn't teacher been fired?
"What if she were not present at the time? There were teacher aides involved in this. What if she were not in that immediate part of the room? If you don't witness something, how can you stop it?" Wollmer said.
Chaifetz has said he intends to campaign until Altenburg is no longer allowed to teach children.
"Even if she said nothing, she should be fired because that room was her responsibility," he added.
"I'm not letting this go. I will take this to the department of education and get her license revoked so she cannot work anywhere else," Chaifetz said.
"I think there need to be offenses that teachers get fired for, regardless of tenure or not," he added. "When you can prove bullying by a teacher, tenure should be meaningless."
Child 'doing much better'
Akian has now left Horace Mann, and Chaifetz said he was "doing much better now he's away from there."
"He doesn't have any of the behaviors he had then. It only happened when he was with the teacher, Kelly Altenburg, and the aide," he said. "But I think he's got some scars from this. How could he not?"
Chaifetz said the public reponse to his efforts has had been "overwhelming."
"There are so many wonderful people, people with stories of them being bullied, they are coming in every hour, hundreds of emails," he said. "This is really pervasive. There's a lot of bullying, there's a lot of bullying of special needs kids. It's like an epidemic."
He said his son's case had "opened up a big window into what's going on."
"People feel like they're alone," he said. "One positive thing that has come out of this: They saw a parent standing up and it's helping them stand up too."
The Associated Press has found at least nine similar cases across the U.S. since 2003. It said parents of special needs students had secretly recorded teachers using insults like "bastard," "tard," "damn dumb" and "a hippo in a ballerina suit." A bus driver threatened to slap one child, while a bus monitor told another, "Shut up, you little dog."
Chaifetz said he had given advice to "a couple" of other parents on how to put a wire on their child after they contacted him about it, but cautioned people to check to the laws in their state.
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Heh, this guy records literally ONE DAY and comes out with a treasure trove of abuses. So what if the teacher was only "partially responsible" on that one day. I would be willing to bet the stuff he didn't get on tape was much, much worse. The fact that this wasn't immediately investigated until it went online shows the administrators in this were complicit too. The Dept of Ed. or Justice Dept. (if there should be charges) needs to investigate this and make an example that you can't bully the kids you are paid to teach and protect from abuse. It's even more egregious since it was with a special needs student who can't defend himself and can't even communicate the abuses to his own father...
Spot on!
Not all special needs students are defenseless...
Maybe not all, but this one was and that is the one that is relevant ot the discussion.
First, let me say I have no bias in favor of teachers, having encountered a few bad ones with my own children. However, it is a little disheartening to see the rush to judgement of this teacher. I agree wholeheartedly that this was unlikely to be the first time this behavior toward the child occurred in this classroom. However, teachers are not in the classroom every hour of every day. Meetings, in-service training, personal time, department planning sessions may all take a teacher from the classroom, depending on district policies and scheduling. Even if the behavior occurred every single day, it is still possible that the teacher was not in the classroom at the time - bathroom, lunch breaks, etc. Second, there is no top-down authority to hire and fire in the classroom. The teacher and all her aides are hired by the school board. Depending on the personality and job security of the aides involved, a teacher may not even truly be able to set the tone in her classroom. Beyond complaining to her superiors about the behavior of an aide, a teacher has no action available to her. She cannot hire and fire, and the aide knows it. Whether the teacher was in the classroom at the time of the recording which was made public is easily verifiable. I would be interested to hear the rest of the 6 hours of recording before jumping to conclusions. If the only time the abuse occurred was when the teacher was out of the classroom, that would be interesting to know, wouldn't it? Since these are personnel matters, all the facts in the story will never be known, probably not even to the father of the child.
Since the tape covered about 6.5 hours of this stuff, do you think once the teacher returned to the class thye put their head on the desk and took a nap?
It should be simple to have a voice recognition expert review the tape and identify the voices.
"We have your client calling an autistic child a bastard on tape."
"No you don't. Tapes don't exist. Neither do recordings. It is all magic you foooooooool!"
- Awesome! hahaha!
I'm just soooo glad I didn't become a teacher. It's not worth it. Would have been better off to have just joined the circus :D
Who says violence isn't the answer? There's a great show called "Bully Beatdown" and all the teachers/aides involved in this situation ought to be invited to participate.
Brian, If the student is in full inclusion, would the verbal abuse be appropriate then? If the teacher wasn't a special ed teacher, would the bullying by any adult in the room be acceptable then? What criteria makes how a student is treated and spoken to in this manner acceptable?
As to whether the teacher was out of the room during every incident, I find it highly unlikely. First, what teacher isn't in their classroom for most of the class? And second, it was the teacher that called in Akian's father to complain that he was throwing things at her and acting out. She had to have been in the room sometime during the school year for that to happen.
The criteria is common human decency and compassion. Oh, I am sorry. You can not learn about that in a book, legislate it on a congressional floor, rule on it in a court room, or order it in an executive's office so you may not comprehend the concept. My bad.
1POV - Nope but what we can't tell from any of this report is whether the incidents happened in a full inclusion classroom under direction of the regular ed or substitute teacher or in the special ed pullout classroom. The possibility also exists that the child was removed from the regular ed classroom during an episode, while the special ed teacher was not in attendance.
Would any of you lose your cool if things were being thrown at you?
Again, not an excuse...just think about it.
Yes the union, with all their money, power, lawyers, political influence (and a president in their pocket), etc. is more powerful than one small autistic little boy. I bet they are really proud of them selves and congratulate each other on their ingenuity and craftiness everyday.
"At least one classroom aide reportedly lost her job, but the state's largest teachers union said that because Altenburg had been transferred to another school, and not fired, she had been exonerated of making the remarks."
does any of that say the Union was responsible for the transfer?
Fire the stupid wench she is.
I guess the facts don't even matter anymore. Everyone already has their torches and pitchforks ready.
If she was a at a meeting she was sent there by the administration. She had no choice but to go.
Many schools only require a substitute teacher to have a high school diploma. Whether or not to have a certified teacher in the classroom at all times would be a decision made by the administration, not the teacher.
She did not hire these aides, the principal did. It is a difficult, low paying jobs. I am doubtful that qualified applicants are lining up to take it.
Most of the outrage seems to be the result of simply believing, without question, what the father said. He claims his non verbal, autistic child is always happy. Really? That would be highly unusual. To me, his credibility is already in question. I don't believe that. In the beginning, he only wanted an apology. As the media attention grew, so did his demands. Now he wants to take down the teacher, even though he has no proof that she abused his child or knew the abuse was taking place. Pretty sure Dad is enjoying his 15 minutes.
Personally, I think it would be nice to know more about Dad before firing a woman based on his word.
The meeting was an hour, so what about the rest of the recording? Also, do you honestly think she goes to these meeting everyday? This was not an isolated incident.
Its up to the teacher to use that aide appropriately and to ensure they are treating the children right.
They were in her classroom, where she is in charge, it is her job to keep thme inline and to report anything that is not appropriate.
They fired/transferred them based on the tape and not on his word.
Your right on one thing, I guess facts don't really matter to everyone.
Keithsn: Can you prove anything you just said?
If everything the father has on tape is true then the teacher and everyone who was involved should be fired. This teacher should've not have been resigned. This teacher is a bully and got caught, and now the fater is going to give the bully a bloody nose and he is going to protect his son. Like any other parent they would do the same thing. But of course teachers feel that have some unwritten authority that they say and do anything they want without getting into trouble as long as they don't get caught. This teacher got caught and the boy's father is doing something about. It there one thing schools don't like is getting caught at doing something wrong and then can't get themselves out of what they did wrong. Too make this situation right the "teacher and teachers, principal all should be fired" and not be able to teach at any school in the United States period. Let the punishment fit the crime. Like Baretta once said "don't do the crime if you can't do the time" plain and simple.
I spent some time yesterday listening to the video. The tape is clear, the word 'bastard' was VERY clear. SOMEONE said it, and SOMEONE is responsible for her classroom. SOMEONE wants to blame an untrained underling or two.
No excuses. If you find out your child has this woman as their 'new' teacher, speak up!
God bless the father who took the time to wire his son and expose this cruelty.
Well imagine that? TWO sides to the story!
Who would ever think that?
Oh, I answered my own question.
People DON'T think!
If there is "solid, irrefutable proof" this teacher allowed the child to be mistreated, she needs to removed. But only if the case against her is solid.
The recording was made in her classroom, where she holds ultimate responsibility for what goes on.
The Teacher should be held responsible for what goes on in her classroom. Period! I never read anywhere, but once the alligations were made, did any body ask the other classmates what happens in general in their room. Maybe another child in this room would have more communication skills and could let it be know that the bulling was a common place occurance. It's just a thought, kids see and remember things better than we, as adults, give them credit for.
My wife just returned this morning after meeting with the principal at Lipscombe Elementary in Pensacola, Fl. Our granddaughter has Aspergers syndrome(in the autism spectrum). She has been doing extremely poorly since Christmas-now failing fourth grade. All the councilors and behavioralists report that her teacher does not know how to properly deal with the child. Yesterday her pediatrician recommended that she be assigned to another class. The principal's response was that the child is simply defiant and the doctor can't tell him how to run his school. (So who is being defiant?) Our daughter, the child's mother, who also has Aspergers, had social services called to her house by the school because she cut her hair. However, the same officials are not concerned that she is failing school, would prefer to stay home, and says her teacher is mean to her and that her teacher is the "devil." The principal's answer is to suspend the child.
Please consider the teacher's position...I taught a child with autism (2 in the same class in fact). The boy was the picture of perfection...as long as he was allowed to play computer games anytime he wanted to. If not, he would loudly proclaim that I was devil and tell me to go to hell. The other, a girl, simply did not want to do the assignments that we at the school AND her parents deemed appropriate. She would complete what she felt like doing and then decide it was nap time. Simply being "special needs" does not exempt students from appropriate school behavior. These kids had to suffer the same consequences (study hall, no recess, etc.) as the other "regular ed." kids. Luckily, both set of parents were on board with the school.
As teachers, it is sometimes hard to distinguish excuses from extenuating circumstances...God knows we hear enough excuses for misbehavior.
retard?
This whole thing makes the school sound like "Animal House". My impression is now that the entire school is out of control not just one teacher. Perhaps all the staff and management of the school should be fired.
If the father has the abuse on tape it is hard to see there is much "wiggle room" for anyone - bottom line is no matter who did what to whom that kind of behavior is not acceptable in any way shape or form and extreme measures must be made to prevent this from happening again.
Okay, the teacher's aide was fired. The TEACHER is responsible to oversee the actions of ALL in that classroom and she did not. So, moving her to another school in the district when she clearly did not do ALL her job entails? Yeah, rewarding bad behavior........isn't that something teachers aren't supposed to do with their students? Whether or not "she" personally said it or not, this teacher is responsible for what happens in that class room. She failed to protect this child, and therefore, should not be teaching period. My son is a special needs child and if ANYONE ever spoke to him in such a way and I became aware, I would do all I was capable of to ensure this person could no longer teach. KUDOS TO Akian's Dad. HE IS THE HERO here for standing up against the bullying his son had to endure. At Brian, the facts are this child was in a school classroom, where he was BULLIED by the staff of that classroom. THAT is what is important here. if a fellow student had acted in such a manner, the zero tolerance rule would have been implemented and that child expelled or suspended. If this were your child, what would you do?? Exactly as this father has done!
Let me get this straight, her argument is that it NEVER happened in front of her, EVER. That somehow there was a conspiracy among her assistants to abuse these kids while she was out of the room, then act normal whenever she got back in order to what? sabotage her?
Try a more believable lie next time, like whenever you see someone bullying a kid you go into a coma and forget everything that happened.
She just needs to sue this man for slander and libel -- until he is in jail and no longer allowed to have children. He'll see how the sword of over-reaction to non-facts cuts both ways.
And what are those non-facts that you speak of? The recording? Thats pretty clear. The fact that she was in charge in that classroom? Thats pretty clear too. So what were they again?
Guilty until proven innocent?
Small suggestion, don't ever have kids of your own.
Jimmy, you did read the part where this is not based on the fathers accusations, it's on ****ing tape. slander and libel only apply when something is not true, again the fact that these things happened is not in dispute, it's on tape.
Regardless of who is was saying those terrible things, and this needs to be determined with no doubts, saying things like that to any child for any reason is inexcusable. While the teacher is indeed responsible for the class, a teacher's aide should be held responsible for their treatment of a child in their care while the teacher is not in the classroom.
Talking about your drinking the night before and having the heaves the next morning is totally classless and uncalled for in ANY situation involving children.
Don't ever walk into a Teacher's lounge then...
Doubt theres many students in there tho. So it wouldn't be a problem.
I think I would expect such talk in a teacher's lounge. Adults need contact with other adults. I don't ever remember any adult talking about things like that when I was a kid, or if they did, it was not something I understood. Perhaps these autistic children don't understand the concept of drinking in the evening and puking the next day. I don't think I would expect them to be able to ask their parents about it, though I understand there are varying degrees of autism.
She would do better to aplogize and tell everyone she is going to help get to the bottom of this. She can't do that because over the past year and a half she has been a huge part of the problem if not thee biggest part of the problem. Hasn't she trained her aides well? Yeah . . .exactly. She didn't do it, but her little assistants don't just act that way because of a bad day they are this way at home and in school. No ones behavior changes that much unless they are a dr. j and mr. h. i'd take this all the way to get justice. don't just show the video to help others, but get her out of the system no matter what it takes!
The father might have waded into dangerous territory. There are laws in place regarding secretly made recordings and their use. I would not be surprised that there might be a suit filed against the father. An example of a law (mostly applies to wiretapping but could be used here) is "Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (18 U.S.C.A. §§ 2510-2520)" generally provides that any person whose communication is intercepted, disclosed, or intentionally used can file a civil lawsuit. From what I understand the laws are not clear about this type of conduct (secret taping of conversations).
I wasn't there, but this type of behavior, if made by the teacher should be addressed. I don't believe firing or execution (as some people here so eloquently put it here) is warranted. Make the punishment fit the "crime," not ask for their head every time someone steps out of line. Personally, I would of taken this to the Principal, not waved it in front of the national media, and allowed it to be taken care of locally like adults.
To Scotts9219
"Personally, I would of taken this to the Principal, not waved it in front of the national media, and allowed it to be taken care of locally like adults." What part of the following did you not understand? "Chaifetz said he was trying to get to the bottom of why teaching staff said his son was acting out in class. He later posted the audio on YouTube after what he described as inaction by the school board."
And why the intimidation expressed in your opening paragraph? Just who are you Scotts9219? Maybe an associate of the lawyer working for the teacher?
I absolutely don't agree with treating a child that way, any child, no matter the condition. However, I think we should wait until the matter is fully investigated before we lynch anyone in this matter. It would be a lot better to wait until all the facts are in. However, I find the teacher's lawyer's statements to be mostly legal double tal. But, i will wait before casting any aspersions on anyone in this matter. If these people are guilty of these acts they should be barred from teaching or having contact with children! Red
If??? The recording shows it, no 'ifs' involved.
Anyone else see anything wrong with the little brat french kissing the pooch?
I would kiss my dog far more quickly than I would kiss you. In fact, I'd prefer kissing YOUR dog over kissing you. And no, I don't see anything wrong with it. Any touch (other than an inappropriate touch, of course) that an autistic child not only tolerates but enjoys is a huge step in the right direction on the child's part.
You don't know that the child is a brat. What a nasty thing to say. I would also kiss a dog or let a dog kills me before I would kiss you.
Brat is a lot nicer than some of the things people on this board are calling the accused...
That's true. But I was certainly referring to the child and not the accused.