Video Captures New Jersey Montessori School Teacher Pushing Toddler To Ground Over Hat [Video]

Five teachers and aides have been fired from Apple Montessori School in Hoboken, New Jersey, after video surfaced which shows a teacher pushing a toddler to the ground after struggling to put a hat on the child’s head. The video was captured on the cellphone camera of a woman in a high-rise building above the school.

The Daily Mail reports that five teachers and aides have been fired after a video was posted to Facebook that shows a teacher roughly handling a 23-month-old little girl at the Apple Montessori School playground. In the video, you can watch as the teacher struggles to put a hat back on the toddler’s head. The toddler falls back to the ground, and the teacher picks her up by her arms and continues to fight to get the hat on the girl’s head. Eventually, the teacher pushes the child to the ground on her back and plops the hat on her head and walks away. The child continues to lay on the ground.

The video was captured on the cellphone from a window of a high-rise building above the school. The woman who videoed the incident told NBC New York that she contacted the school director last week and told them about the video. The director said the teacher would be placed on working probation for 30 days, but that was not enough for the woman. She says the teacher should not remain on site with children and feared that parents wouldn’t learn about the horrifying incident, so she uploaded the video to Facebook.

After the video was posted online, the school took immediate action, and five teachers and aides were fired. However, on Wednesday, the school sent a letter home to parents about the video and claims that it was “just sent to their attention.” They say the teachers and aides were fired and that they do not condone that type of behavior.

“We are outraged by the lack of care and concern this employee showed. We do not condone this type of behavior in any way, shape or form.”

The father of the girl in the video says that he received the same note but did not know the extent of the actions taken against his daughter by the teacher until the news station showed him. He says that though his daughter is fine; however, he is “really disturbed” by the video.

“It was really disturbing. We’re being told that there had been an incident. I didn’t expect it to be as severe as it actually was.”

Do you think firing the teacher is enough or were her actions child abuse?

[Image Credit: Daily Mail Video]