Parents file federal suit against school district

Kim Greengus, the alleged victim’s mother, front, addressed the media Thursday with attorney Brad Gerstman, left, private investigator Les Levine and her husband, Todd Greengus.

Sue Grieco/Herald

Three weeks after the parents of five developmentally disabled students submitted a petition to sue the Long Beach school district for $25 million in Nassau County Supreme Court for allegedly failing to act on complaints of teacher abuse, the family of another child who attended class in what witnesses have called “the torture room” filed a $10 million federal lawsuit Thursday.

Garden City law firm Gerstman Schwartz and Malito is representing Long Beach residents Kim and Todd Greengus, the parents of a 14-year-old, severely autistic and non-communicative child who was a student of the former middle school special education teacher Lisa Weitzman, the alleged abuser.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Central Islip against current and former staff and administration in the Long Beach School District, claims that Weitzman and two teaching assistants physically, verbally and sexually abused the child, and that administrators covered up complaints about the acts done to him and other children, which were reported by staff members beginning as early as 2009.

“As a firm, we take no pleasure in having to file a case of this nature, as it is beyond comprehension that a school can be ground zero to such horrors,” attorney Brad Gerstman told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. “However, we will aggressively pursue this action and make sure justice is delivered to this family, and hope as well the Nassau [district attorney] takes forcible action.”

Weitzman has strongly denied the allegations and has filed a claim against the district, and her attorney, Debra Wabnik, said that the “disciplinary charges were brought against Ms. Weitzman in retaliation for her advocating for the rights of the children entrusted to her.”

“Ms. Weitzman is astounded and horrified by the allegations in the federal court complaint,” Wabnik wrote in an email to the Herald. “She had a loving relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Greengus and their son. Ms. Weitzman did not, and would not, in any way harm him or any other student in her class.”

The district, which launched a disciplinary hearing in March against Weitzman, said it could not comment on the allegations.