I just came across this article on NY1:
A Brooklyn school aide was fired Wednesday after officials say he allegedly played inappropriate games of tag with students.
Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon said Jonathan Williams, 28, who worked at Junior High School 126 in Greenpoint, encouraged nine girls and one boy to play a game of tag in a dark closet.
“We’re recommending to the district attorney that he investigate and decide whether this person should be prosecuted,” said Condon.
Authorities say during the incident, Williams touched the female students inappropriately, and he was suspended without pay in December after the complaints surfaced.
Condon started investigating after a guidance counselor reported that a female cheerleader had told her Williams had touched her on the buttocks.
Three other girls complained Williams had touched them sexually and seven reported inappropriate touches, sometimes during the games of tag.
And Condon says that four school officials, including the school’s Principal Sheldon Toback, knew about the complaints more than a year ago and never reported them.
“We were told by the gym teacher, the dean, assistant principal and the principal that the girls had made statements,” said Condon. “Although none of those school officials could remember who all the girls were.”
“They did remember however that the girls never said they were never touched inappropriately,” said Condon. “However, the girls told us they were touched inappropriately and they were touched sexually.”
The Department of Education banned Williams from ever working at a city school again.
“He did work here and if he did something to violate a male or female student I think something seriously should be done,” said veteran teacher Pat Castillo.
Toback retires on Thursday.
As of Wednesday, the DOE was also considering disciplinary action against the other three officials who allegedly did not report Williams’ actions.
First off, I’m shocked to hear that some 28 year old school aide was able to get 126 cheerleaders to ‘play tag in a dark closet’. I know in my days of being at the six I had more sense in my head than to put myself in that sort of situation… but that’s besides the point.
But to hear that the gym teacher, the dean, the assistant principal land the principal all knew something was going on and didn’t act leads me to believe that there’s more to this than meets the eye. I don’t want to speculate but I was a teenager once, too and sometimes I was a willing participant in inappropriate things that wound up getting out of hand. This guy being fairly young makes me wonder what he might looked like. If he’s a good looking fella, I can just imagine how this might’ve really gone down.
Regardless of all of that, the guy is in a authoritative position and even though young girls might be possibly flirtatious and acting like adults – they’re NOT. And this guy deserved to lose his job. But as for the other members of the staff, I think that they were probably given any number of conflicting stories and they shouldn’t punished or penalized for what might or might not have happened a year earlier.
And holy crap, Toback is finally retiring?!