Cherry Hill father wants apology for how teachers treated his son
Stu Chaifetz wants one thing for his 10-year-old son Akian.
A public apology.
In a video he posted on YouTube on April 20, called “Teacher/Bully: How My Son Was Humiliated and Tormented by His Teacher and Aide,” Chaifetz details a day in the life of Akian in his five-student, self-contained autism classroom at Horrace Mann Elementary.
On Feb. 17, he put a wire on his son and sent him off to school. When he listened to the audio later that evening, Chaifetz said he was horrified.
“That night, my life changed forever. What I heard on that audio was so disgusting, vile, and just an absolute disrespect and bullying of my son,” Chaifetz said.
Early in the school year, Chaifetz said he received reports from the school saying his son was hitting teachers, but Chaifetz said Akian was never violent, nor has he ever seen his son hit anyone.
Chaifetz said he knew something was happening in the classroom.
He attended an IEP meeting with autism teachers at the school to discuss a plan for Akian in the classroom.
The school also brought in a behaviorist, Chaifetz said, who tried to create a scenario to push Akian to lash out, but his father said he never did.
So after six months of meeting with teachers and behavior specialists, Chaifetz said he had to find out what went on in the classroom for himself.
Throughout the video, Chaifetz uses audio obtained from Akian’s recorder that day and discusses the manner in which teachers and aides treated his son.
“They were literally making my son’s life a living hell,” Chaifetz said.
In the video, before he shares audio his son recorded, Chaifetz says only one staff member’s position has been terminated.
“The entire six and a half hours of audio was given to the Cherry Hill School District. The woman you are about to hear, Jodi, was fired. The rest of the staff in the room, including the teacher, were not. They were instead moved to other classes in the district,” he says.
Public information officer Susan Bastnagel said the district responded to the matter when it arose in February.
“This is a personnel matter. The district handled it swiftly and quickly,” she said.
Superintendent Maureen Reusche commented on the matter at the April 24 board of education meeting, stating that the district has removed the individuals from the Horrace Mann classrooms.
“In February, upon receiving a copy of an audio recording, the district undertook a thorough and rigorous investigation and, as we have previously noted, responded swiftly and appropriately. Although this is a personnel matter and there are specifics that I cannot legally address publicly, I want to assure our parents that the 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.”
The video goes on to detail sidebar conversations in which staff members, Chaifetz said, were focusing on chatting rather than the students who needed their attention.
“Throughout the entire day, the staff had personal and extremely inappropriate conversations. These conversations ranged from alcohol use, complaining about their husbands, complaining that they and their husbands wanted each other to be sterilized, complaining about parents in front of their children multiple times, lying to parents, colluding to subvert our IEP meeting.”
Chaifetz said staff comments and conversations pertaining to alcohol abuse were particularly disturbing to him.
One staff member detailed her activities from the night before to another staff member in the classroom.
“I’m doing the happy dance. I’m so very happy. You know why? I had a bottle of wine with my girlfriend last night. I forgot to eat dinner,” she said.
The recording also picked up the rest of the conversation, in which the staff talked with each other about throwing up that morning due to drinking the night before.
“You know what I was doing this morning?” one woman asked. “Heaving,” the second woman said.
“Oh my God, so bad. The wine won,” the first woman responded.
Chaifetz said he was outraged by the dialogue between the two women in the classroom.
“You would never get away with talking about your alcohol abuse the night before if this was a mainstream class. And that’s the point, isn’t it? They knew none of those boys would go home and tell their parents that the person that ran their class that morning was under the influence of alcohol,” Chaifetz said.
Akian, his father said, was also made fun of by teachers for making noises, which his father said, is no big deal. Chaifetz said Jodi told his son several times to “shut his mouth.”
“It’s completely inappropriate. They told us they’d never talk like that,” he said.
Chaifetz said he wrote a letter to the classroom teacher asking if she ever said or heard “shut your mouth” used in the classroom.
The teacher, he said, wrote back saying it’s never been used in the classroom.
Chaifetz said he’s not looking to sue anyone, but wants a public apology so his son can move on. He wants the teachers and aides to take full responsibility and leave the school district. He also said he hopes for advocacy and legislation action so that teachers may no longer bully students, he said.
“My son didn’t go to school, he went to prison,” Chaifetz said.
Last week, Mayor Chuck Cahn held his first citizen’s cabinet meeting.
About 30 of the selected 45 residents attended the meeting early last Tuesday morning, April 24.
A few of them questioned the mayor about the video many had watched and heard about.
Cahn told the residents one school aide was terminated for bullying students inappropriately and added that staff having sidebar conversations during the school day is an issue.
Cahn said he felt the board of education and school district staff moved quickly to address the issue in February.
“Dr. Reusche feels they addressed the issue appropriately,” Cahn said.
Board of Education President Seth Klukoff said he and fellow board members share the concerns brought forward by the community.
“We are confident that these decisions were informed first and foremost by compassion for the students. We are proud of the many caring teachers and staff of our district who provide tireless dedication to our children and work ceaselessly to ensure that our classrooms are conducive to learning and growth.”
To see the video, visit bit.ly/chparentvid.
