BARNEGAT — Angry parents and residents filled the media center of Barnegat High School on Wednesday night to protest the mistreatment of an 8-year-old girl with autism, who was allegedly tied with tape in her classroom.
The crowd came to urge the Board of Education to fire five school employees — one teacher and four support staff members — who were accused of being involved or present when a girl’s mouth, wrists and ankles were allegedly covered or tied with tape. The girl is nonverbal and is in Barnegat’s “Academics, Communication, and Essential Skills” program for children with autism, or ACES, according to her mother and the family’s attorney.
The school board did not identify the employees.
During the meeting, board President Scott Sarno said school officials were “angry, disappointed and upset” by the allegations.
Sarno said the alleged taping incident remains under investigation. School officials have reported the situation to local law enforcement as well as the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency, which is responsible for investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect, he said.
Barnegat Board of Education President Scott Sarno (left) and Barnegat schools Superintendent Brian Latwis listen to audience members share concerns about the district’s special education staff during a meeting at Barnegat High School on April 9, 2025.
“I want to express our (the school board’s) deepest concern regarding the recent incident that occurred at the Russell Brackman (Middle) School involving a student that has come to light,” he said. “The safety and wellbeing of our students is our highest priorities, and we take these allegations very seriously.”
The girl’s mother, Kasi Spinelli, said in a video with her attorney that was posted on Youtube that her daughter was bound using blue painter’s tape on at least two occasions in March. She said she was shown photographs of her daughter in the tape from an investigator.
“Our world is completely rocked,” Spinelli said in the video. “She can’t come home and tell me how her day is. The most I can get out of her is a thumbs up or thumbs down.”
A crowd fills the media center at Barnegat High School on April 9, 2025, where the school board voted to terminate the jobs of five employees who are accused of being involved with an alleged incident where a girl with autism had her mouth, wrists and ankles taped.
Because her daughter can not describe what happened at the school, Spinelli said she took the girl to a medical team to be examined for signs of physical and sexual abuse.
“That was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she said.
Parents and residents told the school board they wanted major program changes and assurances that nothing like this would happen in Barnegat schools again.
Local parents of children with special needs worry about “the lack of resources (in the school district), inclusion, transparency and respect for our neurodivergent kids,” Elysia Jankowski told the school board. “We’re getting information from each other, from social media, not from the district. And I think that’s a big problem.”
Previously: Barnegat schools set to fire 5 employees after incident involving student: board agenda
Steven Donoghue told the school board that his family moved to Barnegat after they heard about the school district’s special ACES program for children with autism.
But now, “I just can’t trust putting my kid in your possession,” he told the school board.
Superintendent Brian Latwis said school district administrators would re-examine the ACES program and its resources based on parents’ concerns.
“We share everybody’s outrage with this incident,” he said.
Latwis and Sarno also said they would be meeting with representatives of the Barnegat teachers’ union next week to discuss changing provisions of the teachers’ contract that currently prohibits security cameras from being installed within classrooms.
Spinelli’s attorney Bradley Flynn said he intends to sue the school district.
“We’re seeking justice on behalf of this family, and that’s going to take the form of monetary relief, but it’s also going to take the form of a true, safe, loving environment for the child where she can be safe from this type of harm and abuse,” he said.
Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers education and the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than 17 years. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Barnegat parents demand change after girl with autism bound in school