Teacher, teacher's aide accused of abusing special needs students

Superintendent apologizes for robocall about incident that went to all parents

PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie is apologizing for a robocall that went out to every parent in the district instead of just the few for whom it was intended.

That call was about a violent incident at a school involving special needs students, and now, we are learning more about what prompted it.

"I was shaking. I couldn't believe that this was really happening to my son," one child's father, Matt Adar, told Local 10 News. 

Matt and Miriam Adar are painfully aware of the incident referenced in the robocall because it involves their son Ezra and other special needs students at Pasadena Lakes Elementary School in Pembroke Pines.

"What is a parent supposed to do if they have a suspicion that something is going on at school?" Matt Adar said. 

Frustrated they couldn't get answers as to why Ezra was cursing and being aggressive, the parents used a product called Angel Sense that allowed them to listen in on Ezra's interactions at school, and what they heard was appalling.

"Get to work or I'm going to hurt you," one of the educators is heard saying in the recording. "So do your last (inaudible) or I'm going to drag your (expletive) over there!"

Ezra's teacher and the teacher's aide are heard in a recording viciously verbally abusing their special needs students.

"I put on that fax that mother (expletive) ain't gonna say (expletive) to me!" one educator is heard saying in the recording. 

In one voice clip, a girl sounds like she is screaming in pain while being physically abused.

The robocall stated that the two employees involved have been reassigned away from students while they investigate, but then another robocall was sent, asking parents to disregard the call.  

"See what that school did? See what those teachers did? See what they hid for so long?" Adar said. "You hear them treating these kids the way they are treating them and they're not fired."

The Broward County School District has not identified the teacher and teacher's aide accused of abusing their students. 

As for the child who is heard wincing in pain in the recording, her mother said she immediately recognized the sound as the cries of her daughter and said that her daughter came home from school with bruises on her body.

The Adar family is demanding that the teacher and teacher's aide be fired. It's unclear whether the school employees are under criminal investigation.