Stuart Chaifetz of New Jersey was a little confused when he kept getting phone calls from his son Akian's teachers, saying that Akain was having violent outbursts and hitting. This is because at home Akain is "sweet and non-violent in nature."
Chaifetz decided to send his son to school wearing a wire. Ten-year-old Akian, who has Autism, returned with a tape containing hours of verbal and emotional abuse from his classroom aide and teacher.
The teacher and teacher's aide talked about things like drinking alcohol and their sex lives in front of the students, all of whom have behavioral conditions and, according to Chaifetz, communication difficulties that prevent them from relaying the conversations to their parents.
As the tape continues, the teacher and teacher's aide's behavior turns from inappropriate to cruel.
Quotes from the taped recording:
"Who are you talking to, nobody?" the teacher asked Akian, who sometimes talks to himself. "Knock it off," the teacher's aide chimed in.
"Go ahead and scream because guess what? You're going to get nothing until your mouth is shut," the classroom official is heard saying. "Shut your mouth."
"Oh Akian, you are a bastard," the teacher's aide said said, according to the audio recording.
Chaifetz said that the classroom aide was fired after he presented the recording to school district officials, but that the teacher remains employed in a different classroom.
Susan Bastnagel, Cherry Hill Public School District spokesperson declined to comment on the teacher's continued employment, but told The Huffington Post that the incident is a "personnel matter that the district took seriously and handled appropriately."