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Brooklyn School Officials Failed To Report Repeated Sexual Assault Of 11-Year-Old Girl
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 6, 2014
Modified Mar 6, 2014
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 6, 2014
Modified Mar 6, 2014
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An assistant principal and a guidance counselor at a Brooklyn public school are under fire this week after an investigation determined they mishandled an 11-year-old girl's allegations that she was being sexually abused by fellow students.
A report [pdf] released today by Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard J. Condon recommended that the Department of Education fire Patricia Sabater, the assistant principal at Brownsville's PS 219, and take "appropriate disciplinary action" against Guidance Counselor Rebecca Shaffren, noting that both educators had failed to properly address the young girl's repeated reports of unwanted touching and abuse by male students. According to the report, the student had filed numerous written complaints that two male students had "touched her breasts and buttocks, rubbed up against her, and threw her on the floor and humped her"; on one occasion, she alleged they "approached her from behind and pulled down her pants."
The student told investigators the abuse had been occurring daily since October 2010, and that she had filed written statements documenting the incidents to Shaffren, Sabater and her teacher in October, November and December 2010, and in January and February 2011. She briefly stopped making complaints in March, April and May of that year, "since nothing was getting done," then "broke down" in May and reported the incidents to her mother. Another student corroborated the victim's reports, noting that she too had been harassed by the male students; she told investigators she believed the boys had received brief in-school suspensions.
The student's teacher, meanwhile, told investigators she had reported the abuse to Sabater on multiple occasions, and was not given any instruction on how to proceed. Another teacher told investigators she too had witnessed the abuse, and reported it to Sabater, who told her, "I will take care of this." Sabater said she had attempted to contact the student's mother, who says she had heard nothing of the abuse until her daughter reported it to her. According to investigators, both mother and student filed reports, and when no action was taken they informed the NYPD.
"It is the recommendation of this office that Patricia Sabater's employment be terminated, that she be made ineligible for work with the DOE, and that this matter is considered should she apply for any position with the NYC school system, with one of its vendors or in one of its facilities in the future," the SCI report concluded, adding that Shaffren should be disciplined for failing to properly address the student's reports as well.
A DOE spokesman said in a statement, "We have zero tolerance for educators who put our children at risk - and the findings of this report are deeply disturbing. We plan to seek termination of the assistant principal and will take appropriate disciplinary action against the guidance counselor."
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Patricia Sabater
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