BOSTON - An advocacy group says it has uncovered evidence of abuse and neglect at a Massachusetts public kindergarten that serves many children with disabilities.
The Boston-based Disability Law Center said Thursday that among other things, the Crowell Kindergarten Center in Haverhill overused restraints on at least one 5-year-old student with disabilities and punished students for crying or acting up by keeping them in closets.
JUST IN: Haverhill Schools responds to damning report that found it broke state and federal laws in engaging in abuse and illegal use of restraint, time out for elementary school kids, some of whom have disabilities. @boston25 pic.twitter.com/hJrJ9szJLu
— Jacob Long (@JacobLongSTL) February 1, 2018
The Center said the school violated state and federal laws. It said it started investigating after receiving complaints about student treatment.
>>Read the full Disability Law Center investigation report
Crowell has about 150 students, including Tricia Escoto's twin 7-year-old daughters who both have autism.
“They would cry before they even got on the bus, like every time,” Escoto said. “They said the teachers were mean and that one teacher had hit them.”
Escoto said every time she'd confront administrators she was ignored.
“They would say ‘oh, the kids are lying. I don't know what you're talking about.’ And I was like ‘my kids don't lie,’” she said.
Just spoke with a mother of twin girls, both with autism, who says Haverhill Schools staff mistreated and abused them to the point they’d cry going to and from Crowell Elementary. Family packed up and moved after just a year in the district. @boston25
— Jacob Long (@JacobLongSTL) February 2, 2018
Haverhill Superintendent James Scully said in a statement that the district is reviewing the Center's report, and several issues have already been addressed since the allegations surfaced last year.
Scully did not say whether any staff was disciplined.
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