Fan Daily reports that on February 17, Stuart Chaifetz decided
he would do all in his power to know what was happening at school with his son,
10 year-old Aiken (who has autism). He was one of the students in the New Jersey classroom of Mrs. Kelly Altenburg at Horace Mann Elementary. So, Mr. Chaifetz sent Aiken to school wired with a hidden audio recorder.
"I just knew I had to find out what was happening there," the father told reporters. "My only option was to put a recorder there. I needed to hear what a normal day was like in there."
"I just knew I had to find out what was happening there," the father told reporters. "My only option was to put a recorder there. I needed to hear what a normal day was like in there."
When
Mr. Chaifetz listened to the tape, he was devastated. His son was the
victim of bullying -- and worst of all, the people who were bullying
Aiken were his own teachers -- Kelly Altenburg and teacher's aide, who has to this point only been identified as Jodi. The tape contains hours of verbal and emotional abuse.
Friends of Kelly Altenburg who talked to media said that "Kelly is not like that," and swore she would never hurt a child’s feelings -- particularly one with special needs.
Stuart Chaifetz uploaded sections of the taped abuse to YouTube. The secretly recorded audio catches teaching staff mocking, arguing and verbally bullying the child. One adult calls Chaifetz's autistic 10-year-old son "a bastard."
A lawyer for Altenburg has denied that the teacher was in the classroom when the abusive remarks were made. She has been placed on paid leave. Since the allegations have surfaced, school officials have announced that one school aide resigned, another was put on leave, and that a substitute aide will not be returning.
Correction: The teacher in this story is not the Kelly Altenburg who studied
special education at Minnesota
State University in Mankato as previously posted here in error. My sincere apologies for re-posting false
information. My source was Huffington Post. I would like to blame that site, but since I failed to
mention or link to the source -- I wrongly printed the incorrect information as fact. Fan Daily and Radar Online, which I did provide links to, were the other websites from which I sourced the bad information. I am sorry. I offer my apology for the error. I have learned an important lesson.
This woman you feature is not Kelly Altenburg from NJ. Kelly Altenburg, a teacher at Horace Mann is in her 40s. She lives in Marlton, NJ. The woman you feature is much younger. She lives in Minnesota. She has NOTHING to do with this terrible situation. Please do everyone a favor and double check your facts before you post misinformation. You can do a check at veromi.com or peekyou and you will see that there are two Kelly Altenburgs who just happen to be special ed. teachers. It is admirable that you want to promote this story and bring justice to Akian Chaifetz but not by exposing an innocent woman to hate and harassment.
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