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A Georgetown teacher was fired after a student allegedly assaulted a classmate. Other teachers said it could have happened to anyone.

The Georgetown Education Association said the incident points to the need to increase school staffing.

Educators showed up at the Georgetown School Committee Meeting last week to support their recently fired colleague. Georgetown Community Television

By Molly Farrar

December 26, 2023

2 minutes to read

A special education student was allegedly sexually assaulted in a Georgetown Public Schools classroom last month by another student, prompting a teacher’s firing and a tense school board meeting.

The mother of the alleged victim, a 11-year-old girl in special education at Penn Brook School, spoke at the meeting. She said her daughter was sexually assaulted by a 12-year-old male student while they were in a part of the classroom that was separate from other students.

Her daughter told the student, who had his hands in her pants, to stop, at which point the adults in the room responded and separated the students, the mother said.

“I am sorry that the school is understaffed and that teachers have to take time away from their family, but if you have an 11 year old girl with special needs, violated not once, but twice in the classroom, that’s upsetting,” the mother said during her emotional testimony.

Teacher’s union: understaffing is a root cause

Teacher Elyse Vlahos was in her classroom with two other paraprofessionals when the incident took place, according to teacher testimony at the meeting. After the incident, Vlahos was let go.

Teachers in the Georgetown Education Association crowded into the Dec. 14 meeting to advocate for their former coworker.

Union members said the situation could have happened to any other teacher given that the school district is understaffed and unsupported, especially when it comes to special education instructors.

Five teachers spoke in support of reinstating Vlahos; each testimony ended with a round of applause from the packed room. Vlahos sat next to her supporters silently as they gave their testimony.

Joe Pittella, the president of the Georgetown Educators Association, spoke first, saying Vlahos is a “valuable” educator and was unsupported in her role.

“We feel Elyse Vlahos has been scapegoated and terminated for this unfortunate incident that everyone in our union feels horrifically bad about, but could have easily happened in any other teacher’s classroom,” he said.

During her testimony, the mother of the girl who was assaulted turned around to face the room full of teachers. One person clapped at the end of her testimony.

“It’s hard for my family, my son who is 14, to be seeing all of his teachers standing out there protesting knowing that his sister was assaulted,” the mother said in her testimony.

Pittella and the Superintendent of Georgetown Public Schools Margo Ferrick did not reply to requests for comment.