WATERTOWN, MASS. (WHDH) – When Julie Staadecker sent her three-year-old son to school for the first time, she thought he was in safe hands. Months later, she discovered she was wrong.
“It’s been a really hard experience for our whole family,” Staadecker said.
That experience began in 2022, when she enrolled her son, Cameron, in Early Steps, an integrated preschool within Watertown Public Schools.
Cameron has autism and the integrated classroom allowed him to get multiple services in one spot.
“My son was excited to start school and be a big kid,” she remembered.
But for months, the place meant to support him failed him.
“I’m never letting my child step foot in that building again,” Staadecker said.
What happened inside that building came to light in March 2023, when a teacher’s assistant reported teacher Maureen Connolly for mistreating Cameron and other students.
The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) investigated and found the claims that Connolly physically abused and neglected Cameron were true.
A DCF report obtained by 7 Investigates revealed Connolly pushed Cameron into a cabinet and pulled him by his ear.
“The teacher called Cam stupid and dumb and disgusting so often in front of the other kids in his class…. sorry that one is still hard to say… that the other kids started to repeat those names to him too,” Staadecker said.
He wasn’t the only one mistreated.
DCF and police reports reveal that one student was tripped on purpose and another was pushed into cubbies.
The teacher’s assistant said Connolly picked up one child by their hood and dropped them. The child then asked Connolly, “Why did you hurt me?”
Lunch boxes were thrown and Connolly refused to change the preschoolers’ diapers even when they physically couldn’t, according to the DCF investigation.
Staadecker said Cameron would often come home with a full diaper.
“He was locked in the bathroom repeatedly, but once he was locked in for an…