A Florida kindergarten teacher has been suspended without pay for 15 days for taking cellphone videos of one of her students beating up on other children at John E. Ford Montessori school, and doing nothing to stop it. An investigation by the school district has found that Rita Baci, 65, used her cell phone on at least three occasions to record child’s actions.
Videos show a boy kicking one student as he tried to hide under a table, punching and slapping another, and hitting a third “about his face and body several times.” The investigative report from Duval County schools also found that Baci used her foot to push one of her kindergarten students out of the class, where she then left him unattended.
Baci said that she had taken the videos as evidence of the boy’s aggressive behavior toward other students. She showed it to an assistant principal before having a meeting with e child’s parents, but also let other students see the recordings, violating the confidentiality of the students shown in the video. Officials say she violated the district’s code of professional conduct and ethics by failing to make a reasonable effort to protect her students from harm.
Baci is certified in several fields, including emotional disabled student education. She has worked in Duval schools since 1990, and taught in New York state for seven years before that.
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