Aspies For Freedom

AUTISTIC BOY NEGLECTED AND MOCKED

Recording device in youngster's backpack captures indifference of bus driver, matron

Friday, February 10, 2006
By DEBORAH YOUNG
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE

A Staten Island school bus driver and matron are under investigation after allegedly being caught on audio tape alternately taunting and ignoring a disabled 7-year-old boy they were transporting, the Advance has learned.

He was the only passenger assigned to the bus, which transported him last fall from his Huguenot home to a private school in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.

A spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney's office said no criminal charges have been lodged yet; he would not divulge specifics.

The family of the child is reported to be mulling a suit against the city for not assigning an educational professional to ride with him, and they may also sue the bus company, Atlantic Express of Port Richmond.

His father Paul Rossi, when reached by an Advance reporter last night, declined to comment, saying he would not address members of the media.

The 7-year-old, whose identity is being withheld, has a type of autism marked by head-banging, hand-biting, self-rubbing and scratching.

Just three weeks after the school year began, sources said, the child stepped off the bus covered in bruises and lacerations.

The following day, his mother placed a tape recorder in her son's backpack and recorded what are said to be the sounds of his groans while the matron, Connie Clark, and driver made derogatory comments and turned up the radio to tune him out.

The bus driver was identified as Robert Fischetti of Great Kills. He and Ms. Clark were suspended by the city Department of Education on Nov. 19.

"This behavior is inappropriate and inhuman; we removed him [the driver] as soon as we found out about it and they will never work with our children ever again," said Kelly Devers, spokeswoman for the Education Department.

Fischetti's license was revoked last month.

But Fischetti -- a 24-year-veteran special education bus operator for Atlantic Express without another blemish on his record -- contends he is the victim of the school system's failure to provide appropriate oversight for the youngster and the family's wish that the child not wear a protective helmet.

Fischetti documented bruises on the child well before the alleged incident, said his Manhattan-based attorney, David Israel.

"The child is known to be self-destructive," Israel said. "You have a child who is crying and screaming and continues to cry and scream all the way home from school -- what is he supposed to do? Not drive the bus?"

Fischetti never heard the alleged recording or saw a transcript, nor was he informed of a school system hearing on the accusations, his attorney claimed.

"He's like in a Kafka novel, he's not been informed of the charges; he's a little guy that's being blamed for the failure to put a paraprofessional on the bus," Israel said.

"He has cooperated with the investigation and he absolutely denies any wrongdoing on his part."

Rossi, referring inquiries to their attorney, Cheol Kim, of Sullivan Papain and Block McGrath and Ciannavo, who could not be reached yesterday.

"It's an ongoing matter, it's something we take very seriously," said Carolyn Daly, a spokeswoman for Atlantic Express, which employs Fischetti and the matron. "We've been working closely with the authorities in every way we can."

Fischetti told the Advance he hopes to be vindicated.

"I just want to clear my name because that's all you come into the world with is your name," he said.

Ms. Clark could not be reached for comment.

Sources said the child now travels to and from school in a town car, for which his family expects reimbursement from the city.

Deborah Young covers education for the Advance. She may be reached at young@siadvance.com.



Source: http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index...xml&coll=1

Shocking Case Of Alleged Abuse On NYC School Bus
Mother of Autistic Child Takes Action

Kirstin Cole
Feb 10th 2006


(CBS) NEW YORK Parents say their autistic son who was supposed to have one-on-one supervision, was instead taunted and allowed to hurt himself.

Eight-year-old PJ Rossi, an autistic child makes an hour long journey from his home on Staten Island to his school in Borough Park Brooklyn, but some of those trips are alleged to have been a hell ride for PJ who was taunted by his bus driver and a matron.

PJ’s mother Lisa Rossi said her son’s face was bruised on one ride, so she slipped a tape recorder into his backpack capturing her son's horror.

“They mocked him, cursed him, yelled at him and we counted on the tape that he banged his head 80 times against the window. He was banging his head repeatedly and all the while interested parties were listening to rock and roll songs on the radio,” said Rossi’s family attorney Michael Block.


The Department of Education spokesperson Kelly Devers released this statement, “This is completely intolerable behavior. Frankly it’s inhumane. The responsible parties will never work with any of our children ever again.”

Source:
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_041212011.html

AS ABUSE AUDIO TAPE RELEASED TO MEDIA

By DEBORAH YOUNG
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
Saturday, February 11, 2006

A muffled audiotape released to the media yesterday provided a hint of the events that transpired Sept. 30 aboard the bus taking a severely disabled child from his Huguenot home to school in Brooklyn.

On the tape, then-7-year-old P.J. Rossi is heard repeatedly pounding his head against the side of the bus and wailing while the driver, Robert Fischetti of Great Kills, apparently turns up pop music on the radio and allegedly whistles, curses and jokes that the bus will fall on its side if his passenger keeps hitting his head.

The matron, Connie Clark of Eltingville, is heard allegedly telling the boy to "shut up" and calling him a "knucklehead." After he slams himself into a seat, she says, "Owww, the whole bus shook!"

The autistic youngster -- who was the only passenger assigned to the bus -- has a compulsion to injure himself by banging his head and scratching his skin. His mother said he came home from school for several days swollen and teary-eyed, prompting her to hide a tape recorder in his backpack.

What she recorded has become the basis for a civil lawsuit the family plans to file against the city Education Department and the Atlantic Express Bus Co. for an as-yet undetermined sum.

A criminal investigation into Fischetti and Ms. Clark is also under way by the Brooklyn district attorney's office, a spokesman confirmed.

"It's absolutely irresponsible, insensitive and inappropriate conduct by the people who were supposed to protect young people with developmental disabilities," Rossi family attorney Michael Block said yesterday at the Manhattan offices of his firm, which played the tape for members of the press.

But attorneys for Fischetti and Ms. Clark -- who together have nearly 40 years' service at Atlantic Express with no previous citations -- said their clients are victims of an "impossible situation," one in which the Education Department failed to hire appropriately trained staff to oversee the child, his family would not provide him with a protective helmet and the two became frustrated by the lack of resources to meet the enormous needs of their communication-impaired passenger.

The operating manual for the bus company states that drivers must be primarily focused on the road and instructs matrons to "avoid touching the individual; this can appear to be very threatening. Stay far enough away that you cannot be grabbed."

Even so, Block insists the matron should have fastened mittens on the child's hands to keep him from scratching himself and held a pillow to his head to help soften the blows.

The supposed neglect and verbal abuse caused P.J. "emotional damage" and he has "been in severe regression," Block said.

Since October, the youngster, who previously attended PS 37, Great Kills, has taken a private town car with a relative to and from the school he attends in Borough Park, Brooklyn. The service costs $200 a day -- a sum the family is trying to recoup from the Education Department, their attorney said.

Both the bus driver and matron were suspended from the job in mid-November, and the bus driver's license was revoked last month.

A spokeswoman for the Education Department called the bus driver and matron "inhuman" and vowed they would never again work in the school system.

Attorneys for both Ms. Clark and Fischetti say their clients, who have not yet been provided with a copy of the audiotape, have fully cooperated with the investigation and have nothing to hide.

ENDS

It is common sense that they should lower the music, hold a pillow, and use mittens. They had an absolute responsibility for the child and were being paid to take care of him.

My son has had similar things to this, and worse, whilst being transported, complaints do very little, it makes me sick to think of how he has been treated in the past.

It is entirely reasonable - even desirable - that the driver should give his fullest attention to the business of driving and the safe conduct of the vehicle through the traffic, but that does nothing to excuse his having ridiculed the poor little lad.

But as for the "matron" - what are her duties if not to attend to the needs of the boy whilst in transit? Why else should she be paid to travel on the bus?

Let's hope more parents follow this mother's example, and take steps to find out what precisely is happening to their children if they come home in an emotional or physical state.

Parents Of Autistic Boy File Suit Against City

NY1 News
February 11, 2006

The Department of Education is now the focus of a lawsuit by the parents of an autistic Staten Island child, who charge a school bus driver and a para-professional abused their son.

The parents of P.J. Rossi slipped a tape recorder in his backpack last September, after becoming suspicious when the 8-year-old had a red and swollen face when he got off the bus.

They say instead of stopping the boy from hitting his head against the walls and windows of the bus, driver Robert Fischetti and para-professional Connie Clark made fun of the boy and taunted him.

"He was banging his head repeatedly against the window and against the seats we believe, causing injuries to him and all the while the matron and the bus driver were interested solely in listening to rock and roll songs on the radio, mocked him, cursed him, and yelled at him for interrupting their song,” said family lawyer Michael Block.

The Rossis are also suing Fischetti, Clark and their employers, Atlantic Express Bus Company.

The Department of Education was ordered to pay for a car service, which now takes P.J. to school.

The DOE says Fischetti and Clark will never work with city school children again.  

ENDS