Rockland County principal berated and bullied special ed students, suit alleges (VIDEO)
Ex-teacher's aide Kenneth Egan claims secret audio recordings appear to show the Hilltop School Principal Kimberly Taylor bullied and verbally abused students at a school for the learning and behaviorally challenged. Egan made the allegations in a suit seeking his old job back.
ROCKLAND BOCES Kimberly Taylor, a principal at the Hilltop School in Rockland County, N.Y., is accused of bullying elementary and middle school students in her care. A released audio tape shows her yelling, cursing and harrassing students.
A special ed principal was caught on tape berating a student, calling him a "retard" before a large school assembly.
Audio recordings by a fired teacher's aide show the Rockland County principal allegedly bullied and verbally abused students at a school for the learning and behaviorally challenged.
Kenneth Egan is suing Rockland BOCES to get his job back after being fired weeks before he was due to get tenure — all because he brought allegations of physical and verbal abuse against the top educator at the Hilltop School, WABC reported.
Egan told WABC he witnessed Principal Kimberly Taylor "grab kids, push kids, I've seen her throw kids."
Egan said he secretly recorded Taylor, who can be heard audibly exploding at students during a graduation rehearsal three years ago.
"Who started this s---?" Taylor allegedly yelled at students at the K-8 school in Haverstraw, N.Y., on a tape obtained by WABC.
Egan claims the principal grabbed one child who had gotten into a scuffle with another and dragged him to the front of the assembly.
"This is a retard!" Taylor scolded. "How embarrassing! A disgusting embarrassment. Get the hell out of my sight!"
Egan said he made the recordings after his complaints to school officials went unanswered.
"These kids are going home thinking to themselves, 'She got to the top being a bully and talking to adults and her teachers like this, and bullying the kids like this,'" Egan told WABC. "'So you know what? That's how I'm going to act.'"
The Hilltop School states its philosophy is to use a model of behavioral support called "positive behavior intervention and supports," school psychologist Maryclare Farrington said in a video on its website.
Taylor also is featured on the video, reinforcing the school's positive academic atmosphere.
"One of the things Hilltop offers is an energy," she said. "We're going to do what it takes to make our students successful."
But that energy appears to be powered by rage and intimidation.
"Don't laugh because I will rip you're a-- out of there," Taylor allegedly said at the graduation rehearsal. "I will embarrass you."
GOOGLE EARTHGerald F. Neary Elementary School, the site of the Rockland
BOCES Hilltop School, was where principal Kimberly Taylor is accused of
emotionally and verbally accusing the children in her care.
"You all know me," she continued. "If you don't give a s---, neither will I. Cause guess what? Everyone knows this school is for kids that have behavior problems, so it will be a normal thing if we drag you down and pull you out."
The district said this is a three-year-old personnel matter. Taylor was suspended for a week for her outburst, WABC reported.
Egan's suit claims he was punished for being a whistle-blower.
"The fact that nothing was done, that she's still on the job and Mr. Egan — who only tried to bring this to the attention of the higher-ups, that he gets fired for it — I think that's an outrage," Egan's attorney, Randolph McLaughlin, told WABC.
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