NEW BRIGHTON — The parents of a 5-year-old autistic boy said city school officials covered up an incident in which an educational aide with a history of student abuse threw their son to the ground during class because he was licking his hand.
Theresa and Paul Zapken plan on suing the city’s Department of Education, claiming that an assistant principal lied to them about the March 26, 2015, incident at P.S. 373R, telling them the allegations were unsubstantiated and not informing them that the aide had previously been suspended for yanking a another student’s hair.
The Zapkens said that not until a month after the incident did they learn the truth — that the assistant principal, Maria Dinneny, did substantiate allegations that paraprofessional Robin Sapienza had used corporal punishment on their son.
And, the Zapkens said, when they finally received a copy of Dinneny’s report on the incident, they learned that she lied in her write-up, stating that the parents were fine with Sapienza remaining in their son’s classroom.
“It should have never happened,” the Zapkens’ lawyer, Michael L. Walker, said. “This is something that everyone with kids in the public school should know about.”
The Zapkens intend to file a notice of claim — the first step in suing the city.
City rules require that a plaintiff file a notice within 90 days of an incident.
But the Zapkens didn’t get the full story about what happened to their son until months after it happened when they obtained a copy of the incident report and Sapienza’s disciplinary record through a Freedom of Information Law request.
The parents filed a petition in Staten Island Supreme Court earlier this year, asking a judge to permit them to file a late notice of claim. The judge has not yet issued a ruling.
The Zapkens have also pulled their 5-year-old, Brendan, from the school. Theresa, 35, took a leave of absence from her job as an EMT so she could homeschool her son until they find an appropriate placement for him.
According to Dinneny’s incident report, Brendan was sitting at his desk in class working on a project when he started making noise and licking his fingers and hand.
Two teachers and another paraprofessional who witnessed the incident said Sapienza, who was sitting near Brendan, “showed signs of frustration.”
The paraprofessional who witnessed the incident wrote in a statement that Sapienza yelled at the boy to stop, then roughly moved his fingers away from his mouth.
When Brendan, who had difficulty communicating and could only speak seven words, became upset, Sapienza grabbed him by his shirt and threw him to the ground, according to the paraprofessional.
The two teachers told Dinneny that they saw Brendan on the ground, but did not see how he got there.
“After reviewing statements and evaluating the credibility of the alleged victim, the witnesses and the subject of this investigation, I have concluded that the allegation is substantiated,” Dinneny wrote in the report.
Sapienza was suspended for 10 days without pay, according to the school records.
In her report, Dinneny also wrote, “Mrs. Zapken requested that Robin Sapienza not be removed from the room.”
Theresa Zapken, 35, told DNAinfo New York that she learned of the incident a week afterward, on April 2, 2015, during a meeting with Dinneny.
However, Theresa said that at the time Dinneny told her the allegations were not true and were the result of a spat between Sapienza and another paraprofessional.
“They made it like this is nothing to worry about,” Theresa recalled.
A couple weeks later, the Zapkens learned more. Brendan’s godfather went on a date with a teacher from a different school who knew about the incident. The godfather immediately told the Zapkens.
“I was stunned,” Theresa Zapken said. “I could not believe that this went on and so many people knew about it and no one did anything.”
Theresa pulled her son from the school on April 21 and demanded that officials provide her with a copy of the incident report.
She only received the report when she hired a lawyer and filed a FOIL request for documents relating to the case.
The FOIL documents also showed that Sapienza had been suspended for four days without pay after a Sept. 30, 2014, incident at the school in which she pulled a special needs student’s hair to get him to stop screaming and laughing.
The Education Department declined to comment on either incident. The city Law Department also declined to comment citing pending litigation.
The school’s principal, Paulette Benevento, did not respond to a request for comment.
Records show that Sapienza, who has 20 years experience as a paraprofessional, and Dinneny are still working at P.S. 373.
Theresa said that she regrets not realizing more quickly that something happened with her son. She said after the incident, even though he had difficulty communicating, he would cry and not want to go to school.
She said that there has been one silver lining to incident — Brendan has thrived while being homeschooled and has become more communicative.
“This is a child who could not say his own name, and now I have him spelling it,” Theresa said.
