LI school teacher dropped textbooks on the heads of special needs kids, locked one terrified student in a closet: parents
A Long Island school did nothing while an ex-teacher “tormented” special needs second graders with abuse that included dropping textbooks on their heads, according to a new legal filing and distraught parents.
Former Cornwall School teacher John O’Dwyer allegedly abused one terrified boy, dragged him across the classroom and even locked him in a dark closet while he screamed for help, a $20 million notice of claim filed Tuesday said.
The claim — a precursor to a civil lawsuit against a municipal agency — alleges that the school not only “failed to prevent” O’Dwyer’s behavior but were told of the abuse and “yet did nothing about it.”
In the first of a number of claims to be filed against the West Hempstead Union Free School District and Cornwell School, one family said O’Dwyer singled out their son “for humiliating abuse” and subjected him to physical and mental “torment,” including kicking and punching him.
“The abuse — both physical and psychological — inflicted on these special needs kids in second grade at Cornwell Avenue Elementary is every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Nathan Werksman, a partner at Merson Law, PLLC. “Through these cases, we will uncover the full truth of what happened — and expose how the West Hempstead Union Free School District allowed this cruelty to continue for so long.”
O’Dwyer did not immediately respond to a message left at a number associated with him.
The mom who filed the notice of claim said her special-needs son told her the alleged abuse happened regularly during the 2023-2024 school year. He was routinely held back at the end of the school day to be released last after the other students left, the mom claimed.
“When the teacher would be alone in the room with him, he would drag him by the hand and put him in a dark closet,” recalled the mother, who asked to remain anonymous.
“My son was screaming and banging and kicking the door,” she told The Post in an exclusive interview. “He kept saying to us: ‘I don’t want to be alone with the teacher, I don’t want to be alone with the teacher,’ and we didn’t understand that.”
The school said he was misbehaving, and the teacher blamed his medication, according to the mom.
“If only I knew back then what it meant,” she added. “He just was scared to be alone, because he knew what would happen.”
But, the filing claims, the school knew all along.
An assistant teacher was “present for much of the abuse” and the school “ignored complaints about O’Dwyer’s behavior,” according to the claim.
The family only discovered the abuse after another parent earlier this year told them the school sent a letter to all current families, telling them O’Dwyer had been dismissed and that there was an active investigation.
“My household never received that letter because my son no longer attends the school,” the dad explained.
News12 first reported on the distressing letter back in March.
“The district is aware of these allegations and has taken all appropriate steps in reporting the claims to the necessary agencies,” said the school’s superintendent, Daniel Rehman, in a comment after the story was published. “The individual in question has not been employed with the district since last school year.”
Nassau police confirmed the school had called authorities and there was a complaint on file.
Meanwhile the father of the allegedly abused kid said he has heard the experience wasn’t unique — and now several other families are also planning on legal action.
“We recognized that there’s much more going on here,” he said.
Another of those victims is the daughter of an NYPD cop with 20 years on the job.
He said the school district was a “disgrace… as a human being, it’s really disheartening.”
The cop, who also asked for anonymity, said O’Dwyer would take a text book — “like a heavy, old-school text book” — and throw or drop it on students’ heads.
He’s fearful that the trauma could affect his daughter’s interest in learning, and that she’s “scared to learn and participate in school, because, again, if you got something wrong, the teacher would come over and hit you on top of the head.”
“It’s really disgusting that the school swept this under the rug,” he told The Post.
