“Disturbing allegations” about the teacher “An open secret”, some say

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BABYLON, NY – A teacher facing “disturbing allegations” has sparked emotional backlash from members of the Babylon community – some who claim to have known about the situation for years.

In a letter sent on Monday, Babylon School superintendent Linda Rozzi said an employee was reassigned to the home after alarming statements about an employee. According to News 12, the teacher was escorted out of the classroom Monday during the school day, and an investigation is currently underway.

Many alumni took to social media, sharing their experiences with the teacher and the “culture” of administration.

A former Babylon High School student, who asked not to be identified, told Patch that she and her former classmates had known about the allegations for some time and felt compelled to do something once ‘they had heard the news – so they created a petition.

“Being a member of the Babylonian alumni community means that when they were children bad and harmful things happened to other children,” they said. “I think that sparked the memory of so many people. We were like, ‘Oh my God, it’s happening again. “”

The alumni group formed a petition Monday night on Change.org titled: “Babylon School District Must Protect Survivors,” hoping to gain local law enforcement and media attention. , they said.

“We also wanted to open up a wider conversation,” they said. “There are thousands of us here who still remember, and we haven’t forgotten. We can’t forget and we don’t want it to be just unspoken truth.”

Another commentator, who also asked to remain anonymous, claimed the male employee was his softball coach, as well as his teacher.

“I find it really disturbing, but not at all surprising that a teacher and former coach of mine is accused of preying on young girls,” they wrote. “We knew about him. We all, including the administration, knew him.”

The former students, who did not identify themselves as an abuse survivor, went on to say that she knew other teachers who “inappropriately treated” her classmates.

“It was an open secret and part of the culture that some male teachers were not to be alone with,” she said.

The eponymous group “BHS Survivors” collected more than 1,500 signatures on the petition in 24 hours and received numerous comments. However, the petition was withdrawn on Tuesday, the co-creator said, due to “damaging comments.” Not only did some commentators “laugh” at the issue, others called out the names of some employees, the group said.

“This petition was never about naming names,” they said. “We were very intentional in the way it was designed.”

The co-creator told Patch that despite the alleged injustice, it was touching to see “tremendous support” from the community.

“There was just that relief,” they said. “I think we all have to come together and just say we knew this was happening and it was wrong and we wanted it to stop – I can’t stress enough the solidarity of this community.”

With additional reporting by Lisa Finn.

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