'Disturbing Allegations' About Teacher 'An Open Secret,' Some Say

BABYLON, NY — A male teacher facing “disturbing allegations” has sparked an outpouring of emotional responses from Babylon community members — some who claim to have known about the situation for years.

In a letter sent out Monday, Babylon School Superintendent Linda Rozzi stated that an employee was reassigned to home after alarming claims were made about an employee. According to News 12, the teacher was escorted out of the classroom Monday during the school day, and an investigation is currently underway.

Many alumni took to social media, sharing their experiences with the teacher and the “culture” of the administration.

One Babylon High School alumni, who asked not to be identified, told Patch that she and her former classmates had been aware of the allegations for a period of time, and felt compelled to do something once they heard the news — so they created a petition.

“Being a member of the alumni community of Babylon means that when they were children, bad and harmful things were happening to other children,” they said. “ I think this triggered the remembrance of that for so many folks. We were like, ‘Oh my God, it's happening again.’”

The group of alumni formed a petition on Monday night on Change.org titled: "Babylon School District Must Protect Survivors", with the hope of gaining the attention of law enforcement and local media, they said.

“We also wanted to open up a broader conversation,” they said. “There are thousands of us here that still remember, and we have not forgotten. We cannot forget and we don't want this to be just an unspoken truth.”

Another commenter, who also asked to remain anonymous, claimed that the male employee was her softball coach, as well as her teacher.

“I find it truly disturbing, but not at all surprising that a teacher and former coach of mine is being charged with preying on young girls,” they wrote. “We knew about him. We all, administration included, knew about him.”

The alumni, who did not identify as a survivor of abuse, went on to say that she knew of other teachers who “inappropriately groomed” her classmates.

“It was an open secret and part of the culture that some male teachers were not to be alone with,” she said.

The self-titled “BHS Survivors” group garnered more than 1,500 signatures on the petition within 24 hours and received numerous comments. However, the petition was taken down on Tuesday, the co-creator said, due to “harmful comments”. Not only did some commenters “make fun” of the issue at hand, others called out the names of certain employees, the group said.

“This petition was never about naming names,” they said. “We were very intentional with how it was crafted.”

The co-creator told Patch that despite alleged injustice, it was touching to see “tremendous support” from the community.

“There was just this relief,” they said. “I think for us to all come together and say just that we knew this was happening and it was wrong and we wanted it to stop — I can't underscore enough the solidarity in this community.”

With additional reporting by Lisa Finn.