An Australian father is livid after finding out the American school his two year old attends covered up an incident where his child was physically abused for not putting her hat on.
“It was absolutely disgusting and disgraceful the way they’ve treated our child and the other children,” Brent Stenhouse, the furious father, told news.com.au of the incident that has seen five staff members fired.
“It’s heartbreaking, you put so much trust in these places to look after your child, you pay so much money to get care and to help them start to learn, for that trust to be battered the way it was deplorable.”
Videos which were filmed above the Apple Montessori School in Hoboken, New Jersey in May were released last month showing childcare staff forcibly handling at least three toddlers at the school. One of the videos shows an employee trying to put a hat on Stenhouse’s daughter, while lifting her up repeatedly before dumping her on the ground and leaving her there distressed.
Stenhouse did not see the footage until NBC showed it to him on Wednesday. In another video released, a girl, crying, is seen to be restrained by her legs in the air while being lifted over a fence and physically dragged back inside.
“lifting her up repeatedly before dumping her on the ground and leaving her there distressed”
The Stenhouse family, originally from Sydney, moved to America last year and enrolled their daughter in the Montessori school. Four months later the Australian parents were contacted by the school in relation to an “incident” witnessed by a resident in the high-rise building above the school. The following day a generic email was sent to all parents of the school saying they had fired a teacher for mistreating a child and that they were aware there was a video online.
“As soon as I saw that I had a very strong suspicion that it was the same incident we had been notified about 24-hours prior,” Stenhouse said.
The woman who took the video uploaded it to Facebook in a bid to warn parents about the mistreatment she had been witnessing over a number of days.
She told NBC New York she had previously made the school aware of the video and they had responded by placing the offending teacher on working probation for 30 days. The woman, who had been thinking about sending her own daughter to the school, believed the reprimand was not enough for the actions of the teacher and uploaded the video in response.
“restrained by her legs in the air while being lifted over a fence and physically dragged back inside”
When Stenhouse learnt of the video, he confronted the school and was told it was the first they had known about the video. But further investigation revealed the school had allegedly received a copy of the video from the woman more than two weeks before. When Stenhouse tracked down the woman who uploaded the video, he was told she had been sent a cease-and-desist letter from the school.
“We were absolutely deceived … (they said) there was nothing to be concerned about,” Stenhouse said. “They absolutely knew the facts at that point and they made a conscious decision to lie to us, they chose not to act against the teacher at that point. It was just completely unconscionable.”
Further digging revealed that the school, which is owned by four sisters, is not a registered day care facility, meaning the state education regulations do not apply to it including mandatory criminal background checks for workers.
According to The Department of Child and Families the organisation is considered a private school. Neither is the school accredited by the American Montessori Society, but instead follows the regulations of the four sisters who make up the board of directors.
“Ultimately I don’t understand how these people are able to conduct business with their current licensing structure and the way their operation seems to be run. They shouldn’t have responsibility for children,” Stenhouse said.
Apple Montessori issued the following statement to news.com.au after questioning:
“Apple Montessori takes the safety and wellbeing of all students seriously, and has a 40-year reputation for quality in care and education of children. We too are outraged by the unacceptable and inexcusable behaviour of the individuals involved, and took immediate, definitive action when learning of the incident.”
Stenhouse said his daughter is alright following the incident, but was shaken and has now been removed from the school. The school has since had a lawsuit filed against them, by parents of the school, who are seeking damages for assault, emotional damage, negligence and breach of contract.
Watch the video here:
