A school board in Ocean County could vote Wednesday to fire five employees, including a teacher, following accusations that an 8-year-old student with disabilities was restrained with tape on her mouth, wrists and ankles.
The Barnegat school district immediately placed the teacher and four paraprofessionals on leave after being informed of the accusations last week, Superintendent Brian Latwis told NJ Advance Media on Monday.
An agenda for Wednesday’s special school board meeting lists personnel motions. If approved, the motions would result in the terminations of all five employees effective immediately.
The mother of the 8-year-old told News12 that her daughter has been diagnosed with autism, ADHD and cognitive delays.
Her daughter attends the Academics, Communication, and Essential Skills program at the Russell O. Brackman Middle School
The mother said a school resource officer told her, in two phone calls a half-hour apart, that her daughter’s wrists had been bound by tape and that tape also was on her mouth, according to News12. She said she was also shown photos with tape around her daughter’s ankles.
Latwis, in a letter to parents Thursday, said the local police department was notified that a separate investigation by the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency is ongoing.
“Barnegat Township School District does not condone the kind of behavior under investigation,” Latwis wrote. “We took immediate action to contact partner agencies to ensure we hold staff accountable and demonstrate the standards of conduct and expectations we have for anyone who is part of our school community.”
No charges had been brought as of Monday morning, Latwis said.
The school district also conducted an investigation, resulting in the recommendation to the board that will be discussed Wednesday night.
“This is not indicative of the amazing things our staff does on a regular basis with our students,” Latwis told NJ Advance Media.
None of the employees are named in the agenda, nor have they been identified by the district.
“Because this is a personnel matter, we are unable to provide details or make comments about this beyond what you read in this letter,” Latwis wrote in the letter.
“We take the health and safety of each child personally, and we take incidents that pose a risk to that priority extremely seriously,” Latwis wrote.
Wednesday’s school board meeting will start at 6 p.m.
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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com.