Five New Jersey preschool employees have been fired after disturbing video showed one toddler being slammed to the ground by an worker in a playground and another flung about as an aide held her arms and legs.
Apple Montessori School in Hoboken said it terminated three teachers and two officials this week after the anonymous video taken last month from a nearby building captured the rough acts in a school play area.
“It was really disturbing,” Brett Stenhouse, whose daughter is one of the children being manhandled, told NBC New York. “We’re being told that there had been an incident. I didn’t expect it to be as severe as it actually was.”
The video was first reported to school officials last week but the preschool’s owners weren’t alerted until six days later, when they promptly fired the school’s director and assistant director for “mishandling this incredibly serious situation,” NJ.com reported.
Stenhouse’s 23-month-old daughter was seen on the video being pushed to the ground after a teacher struggled to put a hat on the tyke. Her father found out about the incident only Wednesday.
The whistleblower said she shared the video on Facebook only after taking it to the school and fearing the incident would be buried, according to NBC.
“We are outraged by the lack of care and concern this former employee showed. We do not condone this type of behavior in any way, shape or form,” Apple Montessori School said in a statement to parents.
Another video surfaced Thursday showing more improper care by a Montessori employee, but the woman in question was one of the five people already axed, NBC reported.
The school said it would put better safeguards in place: “We are instituting new safety measures to ensure that this type of incident doesn’t happen again.”
Follow on Twitter @jmolinet
ON A MOBILE DEVICE? WATCH THE FIRST VIDEO HERE AND SEE THE SECOND ONE HERE.
