Another parent files suit in LBMS abuse case

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Another Long Beach Middle School parent has filed a lawsuit claiming that a child was physically abused at the school over a period of several years, and was among the students who were allegedly bound with zip ties, restrained in a bathroom and sometimes struck by teachers.

Shirlyn Summers, the parent of a child with Down syndrome, claims that her daughter experienced “physical, sexual and mental abuse” by special education teacher Lisa Weitzman and her two teaching assistants, Lauren Schneider and Jean-Marie Lilley.

Summers filed the suit in Nassau County Supreme Court on Feb. 24. It alleges that other district employees, including Vincent Russo, coordinator of special education, and Superintendent David Weiss, were aware of abuse complaints filed by 11 teaching assistants and failed to act.

The abuse allegedly occurred between 2011 and 2014, and the district conducted an internal investigation in the spring of 2014 with the assistance of the law firm Ingerman Smith LLP, according to the suit.

“The district is aware of the new lawsuit,” said Deirdre Gilligan, a spokeswoman for the district. “However, they don’t comment on active litigation.”

Weitzman has strongly denied the allegations, and filed her own lawsuit against the district last June, claiming she was the subject of a malicious investigation when, in fact, she had acted as an advocate for her students. She claimed the district had not provided appropriate services and resources when she had requested them.

Last year, the parents of five of Weitzman’s students filed a $25 million lawsuit against the district in Nassau County Supreme Court, claiming that district officials failed to act on the complaints by the teaching assistants. Additionally, the parents of one of the students filed a federal lawsuit last April against the district, Weitzman, Schneider and Lilley.

The latest suit alleges that Weitzman, Lilley and Schneider “repeatedly engaged in ... physical, psychological and sexual abuse,” of Summers’s 16-year-old mentally disabled and non-communicative daughter, including demonstrating “sexually explicit acts using students as a prop,” and “[directing] a student to masturbate in front of the class.”

The suit also claims that Weitzman and her teaching assistants “would abuse illegal substances, including marijuana, while in custody and control” of the students, including Summers’s daughter.

The suit was filed years after the alleged abuse occurred because “the parents were not aware of what was happening ... and the Supreme Court approved the ability to file [a] late notice of claim,” John Messina said on behalf of his colleague Jeffrey Brown, an attorney for Summers.

According to the suit, Summers is “seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages and reasonable attorney fees” for the “inhumane deprivations” of her daughter’s rights. The claim requested at least $5 million, but damages will be officially determined at the trial.

The suit claims that Weitzman and her teaching assistants used the classroom bathroom to confine, restrain and imprison students, screamed profanities at Summers’s daughter and sprayed her with aerosol disinfectants such as Lysol.

Weitzman was suspended in November 2014, but continues to collect her $96,000 salary while she is on administrative leave. Last year the district launched a disciplinary hearing against her that could lead to her dismissal. The hearings were open to the public at Weitzman’s request, and are ongoing.

The district lodged eight formal charges against her, alleging that she abused several of her former students between 2009 and 2014. She was accused of using a bathroom as a timeout room, pushing a child up against a wall, threatening to restrain a child with zip ties and digging her high heel into a child’s foot.

Debra Wabnik, an attorney for Weitzman, said the disciplinary charges were brought against her in retaliation “for her advocating for the rights of the children entrusted to her,” and that Weitzman expected to be fully vindicated.

“Ms. Summers’ claims against Ms. Weitzman and Ms. Schneider have absolutely no basis,” Wabnik said. “They never harmed this student or any other student. The complaint is replete with falsehoods and inaccuracies.”

Wabnik said that Summers’s daughter was only in Weitzman’s classroom for the 2012-13 school year.

“Ms. Weitzman and Ms. Schneider cared for this student,” she said, “and did everything they could to allow her to obtain an education despite her behaviors.”