It’s a shocking revelation that a teacher at a Brooklyn Catholic school allegedly forced a three-year-old boy into a cardboard box and threatened him with the infamous “Grinch”.
Alexis Breeden, the lead preschool teacher at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy in Windsor Terrace, was arrested on February 28 for unlawful imprisonment and endangering a child’s welfare.
On Feb. 2, the school nurse witnessed Breeden holding the handle of the storage closet door shut as a child cried inside, according to a complaint filed with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
The nurse told Breeden to open the door and when Breeden unlocked it, the nurse observed “a 3-year-old child crying inside the closet in a large cardboard box,” the complaint stated.
The freaky mask was kept in the classroom closet and had been used by the teacher for weeks to threaten kids, according to parents. “The Grinch is in there,” the teacher would tell the tots, according to a parent with knowledge of the incident.
The nurse reported the disturbing discovery and the K-3 program was immediately shut down as city Health Department and NYPD began probes of child-abuse allegations.
The tax-payer-funded, city-run Universal 3-K program, which is located on Prospect Park West behind Holy Name of Jesus Church, reopened Tuesday.
Breeden, of Castleton Corners, Staten Island, was fired soon after. She was charged with unlawful imprisonment and endangering welfare of a child by district attorney’s office. She pled not guilty and was released on her own recognizance according to court records.
John Elefterakis from Elefterakis, Elefterakis & Panek law firm representing anonymous family of victim stated that there are no rational circumstances where what happened can be called “anything but child abuse”.
The Brooklyn diocese took immediate action upon learning of a code of conduct violation according to the Catholic newspaper The Tablet. They stated that the little boy did not “sustain any injuries,” and out of respect for the student, they would not be releasing any details about what took place.
Elefterakis claims that this disturbing incident was not the only alleged bullying at the school, which promotes a nurturing environment for children—implying that the firm’s initial investigation revealed that this was not the first instance of a child being bullied by means of abusive behavior.
As time goes on, homeschooling seems like an increasingly better choice.
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