Report Faults Use of Restraint at a Charter School in Harlem

May 19, 2010

OTHER NEWS MEDIA REFERENCES ON CHARTER SCHOOLS

Report Faults Use of Restraint at a Charter School in Harlem

by Sharon Otterman

The use of physical restraint at a Harlem charter school that serves special education students was not reported properly and “could be considered condoned assaults and abuse of schoolchildren,” a city investigation released on Wednesday said.

The city’s special commissioner of investigation, Richard Condon, began investigating the school, the Opportunity Charter School on West 113th Street, after receiving an anonymous accusation of physical abuse in 2008, according to a report released by his office...

In one instance, a 15-year-old told investigators that his head had been pushed against a doorjamb. In another, a 14-year-old student who refused to take off his “gang beads” was thrown to the floor by an administrator who cut his own arm in the process, the report said...

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