Hoboken Parents File Lawsuit Against Montessori School

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with a statement from Apple Montessori School.

A pair of Hoboken parents filed a lawsuit against a local Montessori school in connection with a teacher’s alleged “roughing up” of their toddler in June.

The child’s parents filed the lawsuit against Apple Montessori School after a cellphone video emerged that apparently shows a teacher at the school grabbing a 23-month-old girl and “roughly” attempting to put a hat on her head, according to NBC Philadelphia.

Five of the school’s employees have been fired in the wake of the incident.

• WATCH: Video Shows Teacher Allegedly ‘Roughing Up’ Hoboken Toddler

The parents are seeking unspecified damages from Apple Montessori Schools and several employees for negligence, emotional damage, breach of contract and assault, NBC New York reported.

A representative for Apple Montessori reached out to Patch with the following statement:

“Apple Montessori takes the safety and well-being of all students seriously, and has a 40-year reputation for quality in care and education of children. We too are outraged by the unacceptable and inexcusable behavior of the individuals involved, and took immediate, definitive action when learning of the incident. Further, the school has taken extraordinary new measures to strengthen our staff training, security and child-safety protocols.”

Reported changes in response to the incident have included:

• An expanded video monitoring system with additional strategically placed cameras in all Apple schools
• The addition of online systems providing parents with live access daily, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• All locations are implementing a parent swipe card entry system and a parent fingerprint sign-in and sign-out system
• The school is expanding its Human Resources Department by 20 percent and increasing human resource functions to include a review of current fingerprinting and background checking procedures and an examination of current hiring practices
• Third-party review of all current training practices by a recognized human resources expert. This includes the immediate implementation of the New Jersey Department of Education “Keeping our Kids Safe in School – Child Abuse, Missing Child, 4 Module Program.”
• The start of “Positive Parenting” training series that includes topics such as Child Abuse, Dealing with Tantrums, Principles of Behavior and Safe Schools.
• The creation of a Parent Liaison Committee

Send Hoboken news tips to eric.kiefer@patch.com