Source: NJM1theRecord.com
City education officcials have confirmed they are investigating an incident in which family members of a 6-year-old girl with autism said the child came home from school on June 13 with red marks around her neck.
The girl’s mother said the child is “non-verbal” and “low-functioning” and has been unable to tell family members what happened to her. She attends the Paterson district’s Rutland Center for children with autism at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Education Complex, her family said.
“The staff is saying there were no marks on the child when the child left at dismissal,” Paterson Schools Superintendent Eileen Shafer said at a June 13 Board of Education meeting when the girl’s grandmother, Francesca Nunez, spoke about the situation.
The girl’s mother and grandmother said they believe something happened at the school — not on the bus — to cause the red marks on her neck.
Shafer added that the district was waiting for the video from the bus company that transports the girl between her home and school. District officials would not say whether they had obtained that video yet and whether they have viewed it.
“We have started our own investigation into the matter, the details of which cannot be divulged since it is ongoing,” the district said Tuesday. A representative of the company, We Care Transportation of Paterson, said nothing happened to the girl on the bus that day. “We’re all cleared,” said a woman who would identify herself only as part of We Care’s management.
The child’s mother, Cassandra Saico, said her daughter showed no signs that she was upset by anyone on the bus on the day the marks appeared. The girl gave the bus aide her normal hug goodbye when she left the vehicle on June 13 and then waved goodbye to the bus staff.
Saico said her daughter is in a classroom with four other children, along with a teacher and an instructional aide. But she said she was not satisfied with the level of supervision in the classroom, and said she has requested that her daughter be transferred to a different school.
The child did not need medical care, her mother said.