Teacher's lawyer says aide made unfounded child abuse claims

March 11-- Mar. 11--QUINCY -- A lawyer representing a Randolph special education teacher accused of assaulting children as young as 6 has denied the allegations, saying they were made by a disgruntled teacher's aide who couldn't handle the students.

The teacher, Tricia Rossman, 52, of Rockland, was arraigned Monday morning in Quincy District Court on three counts of assault and battery on a disabled person. Rossman had not been arrested before the arraignment and was released on her promise to return to court April 29.

Rossman, a teacher at Randolph'sJohn F. Kennedy Elementary School, has been on administrative leave from the Randolph Public Schools since at least Jan. 23, when school administrators sent a letter to parents saying she had been accused of mistreating students in a classroom. Randolph police learned of the allegations the same day.

A teacher's aide assisting in Rossman's classroom told police that she had seen what she believed were two assaults on students last year, according to a police report filed in court. One of the times, the aide said she saw Rossman "drag" a student into a timeout area, then heard a smack sound and saw the child walk away holding their face and crying. The aide told police she was sure Rossman had hit the student in the face.

Another time, in December, the aide said Rossman put her hands on a student's shoulders and appeared to be pinching him. The aide said the student was screaming while Rossman had her hands on him.

Police said they also spoke to a man whose son told him Rossman pushed him in October. The father told police that his son stopped wanting to go to school after the incident and told him Rossman was mean and would yell.

A different teacher's aide told police Rossman's classroom was a "toxic environment" and Rossman "manhandled" students and yelled at them.

In court Monday, Rossman's lawyer, Peter Pasciucco, pushed back against the allegations. He called the police investigation "woefully inadequate."

"We're at a loss for words," Pasciucco said. "She shouldn't even be here."

Pasciucco said Rossman was cleared of wrongdoing by a state Department of Children and Families investigation that found the allegations against her were unsubstantiated. A spokeswoman for the department confirmed Monday that it had investigated a report about the matter but said the results of the investigation were confidential under state law.

Pasciucco said the allegations came from an upset teacher's aide who couldn't handle the students. Outside court Monday, Pasciucco said his client denied the allegations and that staff members at the school have wanted to tell the police that she is a great teacher.

Joan Batson, the mother of a 6-year-old boy who was in Rossman's classroom, was in court for the arraignment. Batson said her son came home from school with bruises and she believes that Rossman was responsible.

"For them to say that this was something made up by a (teacher's aide) is ridiculous to me," Batson said.

Batson previously told The Patriot Ledger that her son came home from school with four large bruises on his thigh, back and rib cage in November or December of last year. She said she texted Rossman about the bruises and the teacher gave her "the runaround."

She said her son, who is nonverbal and has severe autism, came home from school in November with a large bruise on his forehead. She said Rossman's explanations for the bruises didn't make sense and included the claim that the marks on his legs had come from sitting in an odd position.

After the letter from the school about Rossman went out, police said several parents contacted them to share concerns about children coming home from Rossman's classroom with mysterious scratches and bruises.

Thea Stovell, interim superintendent of the Randolph school district, declined to answer questions about the allegations Monday but said in an email that she takes the matter seriously. She said the school department is investigating the allegations.

Batson and two other parents of special education students held a meeting in February with other concerned parents to share their experiences with Rossman. One parent, Elizabeth Goncalves, said her 7-year-old son was kicked out of Rossman's class on Jan. 17.

"I wasn't told about it until a day later," she said at the Feb. 5 meeting. "I still don't know exactly what happened. I'm trying to wrap my head around it."

Material from Wicked Local Randolph was used in this report.

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