A parent of a Conte pre-schooler called on the Board of Education Monday night to figure out how to “rebuild trust” in the wake of an investigation into abusive classroom behavior.
Schools Superintendent Madeline Negrón announced at the meeting, held at Barack Obama School, that she has put two full-time paraprofessionals, a part-time para and a lead teacher on paid leave pending an investigation into allegations of abusive behavior in a pre‑K classroom at Conte. The announcement followed a demonstration by several parents outside the school earlier in the morning highlighting the release of a 20-minute audio recording that allegedly documented chaos in the classroom. (Click here to listen to the audio or here to read a transcript posted to the On Scene Media site.)
“These are allegations. They are being taken very seriously and will be thoroughly investigated. I will act accordingly based on the findings,” Negrón said.
During Monday’s meeting, Giovanni Morales, a parent of one of the impacted preschoolers, asked the board how they will rebuild his and other Conte West parents’ trust.
“These are our children, our 3‑year-olds. We are hardworking people that are going to work thinking our children are safe and our children are being treated with the best love and the best manner there is,” Morales said.
“And now for us to find this recording, and it’s been happening for a long time, and if this recording never came up our children would have went to school today to face the issues that were presented to you guys. We want to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”