Special Needs Teacher Vindicated After Abuse Accusations
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DAVIE (CBSMiami) -- A state judge has determined that accusations of child abuse against an elementary school teacher for special needs kids were untrue or exaggerated.
Deborah Tersigni, who taught at Silver Ridge Elementary, was arrested in 2013 for more than 20 acts of alleged abuse against nine children.
The court found four teacher's aides had misreported the incidents of abuse in retaliation against Tersigni, who worked alongside each other at the school, according to the Sun-Sentinel. The accusations included lying on top of a student until he couldn't breathe, holding a bag of ice to a child's body to stop him from crying, making a child eat from the garbage and locking a child in a bathroom for several hours.
After examining the allegations, which began in the 2011-2012 school year, Judge Cathy Sellers determined that the aides gave inconsistent testimony about the incidents and found Tersigni's accounts to be both credible and persuasive.
The judge also recommended that Tersigni be reinstated by the Broward County School Board and receive back pay from the time she was fired.