Kelly Altenburg, New Jersey Teacher Accused Of Verbal Abuse, Put On Leave After Stuart Chaifetz Outrage

Akian Chaifetz

CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- A southern New Jersey teacher who oversees a classroom where a father says his autistic son was verbally abused by adults has been placed on paid leave, according to district officials.

The father, Stuart Chaifetz, posted clips on YouTube days ago of secretly recorded audio that caught one adult calling his autistic 10-year-old son "a bastard." A lawyer for the teacher, Kelly Altenburg, has denied that she was in the classroom when the abusive remarks were made and said an investigation by the district also found that Altenburg was not present. Officials say one school aide resigned, another was put on leave and a substitute aide was not invited back amid the allegations.

Cherry Hill Superintendent Maureen Reusche said she put Altenburg on leave to minimize the "disruption to our schools."

Speaking at a news conference Friday, lawyer Matthew Wieliczko said Altenburg is a dedicated special education teacher of 23 years who did not know about the comments until she was contacted by district officials about the covert recording and after Chaifetz posted his first recording. Altenburg does not condone the comments, they said.

In cases around the country, suspicious parents have been taking advantage of convenient, inexpensive technology to tell them what children, because of their disabilities, are not able to express on their own. The practice can help expose abuses, but some experts say it could violate the rights of other children.

Chaifetz has said he sent his son Akian into school wearing a recording device stashed in his pocket. The father said the tape revealed teachers at the school chiding and mocking Akian in a class that contains only children with autism who have trouble communicating.

Chaifetz took the step after getting reports earlier in the school year that his son was being violent. Hitting teachers and throwing chairs were out of character for the boy, who speaks but has serious difficulty expressing himself. Chaifetz said he talked to school officials and had his son meet with a behaviorist. There was no explanation for the way Akian was acting.

"I just knew I had to find out what was happening there," he said. "My only option was to put a recorder there. I needed to hear what a normal day was like in there."

Comments

[bthugger]

01:07 PM on 08/30/2012

It is sad that there has to be an implied threat of being recorded to make workers 1. do their job 2. do their job without abusing their charges. Unfortunately, nothing can force them to have or to use any care or compassion in their roles.

In our culture, it is an unfortunate fact that being disabled makes us much more likely to be abused. What a shame.

[buysell1234]

08:36 AM on 07/27/2012

It's been forever since I've had a hero. This man is just that. I wish I wish I wish-To be as good a man as this.

[Pferdefreund]

09:33 PM on 05/28/2012

I agree with many posters here, that teaching special children is difficult, but these children are already bullied and made fun off, teachers should be the adults and protectors of these children and not join the abusers.There is no excuse for this behaviour by a professional adult. I feel sorry for that little boy.

[candygyrl]

08:17 PM on 05/04/2012

I am confused about the teacher on leave... Is she on leave for her protection at this point and the school was able to determine she was not present when this happened or is the school placing her on leave bc she may have been a part of this.

[calicoerotica]

11:36 PM on 05/02/2012

Why hasn't there been a picture of the abusive teacher? To protect her? The way she was protecting her students?

[physixchic]

07:41 AM on 05/04/2012

Her role in this scandal has not yet been determined, and you want to post her picture? Judging from the posts here, many of you are happy to convict without an investigation and/or a trial, and posting pics would put her safety at risk.

[buysell1234]

08:39 AM on 07/27/2012

Yes -One day doesn't start to show the true picture of the horrors these kids went through. Best to let her move on to the next bunch of kids. Shhhhh!!!!

[shrinkess]

07:10 PM on 05/01/2012

Oh, sweet jesus!

[Halina Smith]

12:25 PM on 05/01/2012

I have often commented on this very issue, in this day and age of domestic violence, abuse of any kind, with all this technology, why isn't there a video or recording of any violence, especially domestic or bullying, or teacher indifference. I don't get it....does anyone have a reasonable explanation as to why we don't record the abuse...

[Ariel Bonzai]

05:32 AM on 05/01/2012

This is inappropriate at all sisdes It is sad the most vulnerble kids are mistreated so casually. Its a big issue @schools.The dad was defiintely clever but skating on legally thon ice, what concerns me is that aids were punished, one not welcom back as sub ,
Sources confirm teacher ws not presentwhy is her name in this headfline

[djo2013]

09:33 PM on 05/03/2012

Ouch.

[John Peter Creighton]

08:16 PM on 04/30/2012

I admire the father for taking the measures he did including very eloquently stating the case for his son. I think he is right in his reasoning, that he did what he had to do to investigate the situation and advocate for his son.

[trekie70]

02:49 PM on 04/30/2012

I'm going to comment on a different aspect of this story: the possibility that a judge would rule the audio recording inadmissable due to the school employee not knowing about it. I am not condoning the behavior, merely pointing out what could happen. I believe that in most places around the country, recording the audio of someone without their knowledge, as in this case, is unlawful.

That said, I hope that a full investigation is conducted and appropriate steps taken to ensure it doesn't happen again to this young man or any other student.

[Ayla87]

03:17 PM on 04/30/2012

This is a very good point. When I was in high school I had a science teacher who was so bad at his job that several friends and I considered putting a hidden camera somewhere in the room to show the principal. A teachers aide overheard us and told us that we would be suspended and possibly expelled if we taped him without his consent.

[melssaannalexander]

09:34 AM on 05/01/2012

New Jersey is a "one party consent state," which means that only the party doing the recording has to have knowledge of it. Many states also follow this law...therefore the recording is admissible.

[raggedhand]

06:56 PM on 04/30/2012

It depends on the state. Some states allow covert recordings if one of the parties knows and consents. Other states don't.

[Lily P]

12:09 PM on 04/30/2012

Working with Autistic children whether in a nursing or teaching role has the highest turnover rate of almost any position out there. It's like 95%. People just don't last in it. That said, the teachers sounded a bit harsh in the audio. People have bad days. People get tired of their jobs. This guy should have taken the tape to school administrators, instead of looking for his 5 mins of fame on You tube with his tired angry mug.

I am SO tired of people taking their "outrage" out online. Be an adult and find a solution that doesn't include the world and publically humiliating people over petty things. It's none of our business. Flame on, I really don't care.

[BullPower]

12:25 PM on 04/30/2012

I agree with you. This was completely done to humilate this teacher, inflame the public and throw his weight around. Normal people do not air their private complaints in a public way unless they have an ego to feed. The district had handled the situation professionally, as they should, but all Stu wanted was blood. The way Stu handled this was completely self-serving and vindictive. BTW, no one is condoning the actions of the aides that day.

[Lily P]

12:36 PM on 04/30/2012

Thank you! I figured i'd be the only one. LOL. I'm seeing this more & more lately, the people at the baseball game who were humiliated, yet had 7 children between the 2 of them, a woman loading a horse lost her business because someone taped a bad 3 minutes, etc. it's sickening what's happening. It's like people want the best "outrage" video.

[Joanne Pang]

11:45 AM on 05/01/2012

Do you have children? I would seek "blood" too if my daughter was treated that way. It is my god given right to protect my child!!! I am a pretty calm, passive classy woman.... But mess with my daughter and momma bear comes to attack. =)

[Janna03]

01:58 PM on 04/30/2012

Mr. Chaifetz did take the tape to the school administration, and the investigation of what happened is still going on. One aide resigned and one aide is on leave. A substitute aide or teacher, it's unclear which, who is not a regular school employee; won't work in the district again. The regular classroom teacher, who says she wasn't there when the verbal abuse happened, is on administrative leave. The school district is handling the situation but Mr. Chaifetz doesn't like the way it's being handled. He wants Ms. Altenburg to make a public apology, to be fired, and to have her teaching certification revoked. Truthfully, if every person who had a beef with a teacher could have that teacher fired on demand, we'd have very few teachers left. Every teacher, if they teach long enough and no matter how good they are, will make some parent or parents angry and likely somebody will want them fired. That is why there is a process in place to address parents' concerns. Until the school district knows exactly who said what and when on this tape, the teacher won't be fired. Though I can understand Mr. Chaifetz anger, using the internet to publicly punish this teacher, is not the way to address his concerns.

[BullPower]

05:12 PM on 04/30/2012

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, even his ex-wife is "satisfied" with the action that the school board took back in Feb. I am sure she loves her son as much as he does. Also, the district quickly fired the offending aides and transferred the teacher to the high school until this video came out and then they put her on leave. By the time Stu put this on YouTube the situation had already been handled properly and his son had new teachers and aides. I really don't know what more the district could have done. They already apologized, I'm sure. What else does he want? He is not an employee of the district, he is a parent. And, I agree, that if every parent who complained about a teacher were fired, there would be no more teachers. His rant is ridiculous, offensive, unprofessional and self-serving. I'm really angry he would do this to a teacher and a school district. He is out of control.

[joebtfsplk]

12:08 PM on 04/30/2012

My wife taught elementary school for 35 years and had such a sterling reputation that parents systematically pulled all available strings to get their kids into her classes. But where the children came from or how they got there was immaterial to her, all were treated equally, in the most humane way. Any parent at any convenient time could come into her classrooms to observe but were never allowed to interfere. If there were any problems parents were encouraged to discuss anything about their child’s progress at any time, not just at report card time.
She rarely had any complaints but when she did, invariably they came from parents of uncivil, undisciplined, undernourished, socially unacculturated children, who pretty much mirrored the qualities of their parents. And this situation was more common than one would expect. It was obvious that her classes were too often a dumping ground for children of parents who were failures as parents but were looking to the schools to magically mitigate that failure.
As for the case cited here I'd reserve further judgement. There is already entirely too much trial my internet here without knowing all the facts at issue.

[Anne Siperek]

01:43 PM on 04/30/2012

Mr. Chaifetz doesn't fit your description of uncivil or otherwise. The language on that recording though, seems to.

[angeleigh]

11:32 AM on 04/30/2012

I have seen many posts on here saying how hard this job can be, I don't doubt that it is a hard job with risks. But no matter how hard the job is there is no condoning this type of behavior towards a child, whether they be special needs or not. Whoever was involved should be punished period. There is no excuse for that behavior NO MATTER WHAT!

[joebtfsplk]

11:08 AM on 04/30/2012

It makes one wonder what else is going on behind the scenes here. One might suspect that through selective editing, a lot of details (both good and bad) may have been left out here.
Unfortunately, this is not a new practice. In similar Huffpost articles a lot of details are also missing.

[pepper1311]

11:24 AM on 04/30/2012

Watch the YouTube video by dad.

[joebtfsplk]

11:34 AM on 04/30/2012

I watched it and there is nothing but a self-serving commentary with a few audio clips. As evidence it might be considered doctored.

[Kasie Ray]

10:25 AM on 04/30/2012

I found info, since HP didn't provide notes about the federal, state and district guidelines:

Had this child been in Passaic, rather than Cherry Hioll, the following would ahve applied. IIRC, Q#1 of the Q&A applies state-wide; I'm still digging through their state ed code: http://www.passaic-city.k12.nj.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=654

The state SpEd Code is here: http://www.state.nj.us/education/code/current/title6a/chap14.pdf
Pay special attention to sections 4 and 5, and note that this dad has the IDEA act and due process hearings available to him, too. I think he should skip mediation, since the school board has already lied.

The paraprofessional is NOT a replacement for a teacher as a certified/degreed sub would be.

Why these aides were ever left alone with these kids is beyond me.

[Caryn Banker]

10:05 PM on 04/30/2012

"Why these aides were ever left alone with these kids is beyond me."

I started a job as a T.A. in a private school a few months ago and have been left with the class alone about 4-5 times so far. I have a lot of 'professional-world' experience and a lot of in-class volunteer experience, but zero teacher training. Now "I" know I'm a parent, a competent human being and I ADORE my little charges. I really love this job, But that has definitely occurred to me too. "Seriously!? They're trusting me to take charge of the class? They barely know me!"