A special education coordinator accused of abusing a 5-year-old autistic student at a Catholic school has been fired from her latest gig at a Bronx charter school, after inquiries from The Post.
Mary Ellen Sanchez, former principal of the St. Joseph School in Bronxville, was accused in a 2022 lawsuit of hitting, violently grabbing and “psychologically torment[ing]” the boy. His mother, Maria Kelly, filed a lawsuit, which is ongoing, against Sanchez, the Catholic school and the Archdiocese of New York, News12 reported at the time.
Sanchez was fired and went on to teach at a yeshiva until last school year, and started at Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health & Science Charter School in the Bronx last month, sources said.
She was hired as a special education coordinator at the Morrisania charter school, shocking parents and staff.
“Teachers are horrified that a woman with this history is in charge of managing the special needs children of the school,” one educator told The Post.
But as of Friday afternoon, she was gone.
The administration was not aware of the allegations when Sanchez was hired, a school official told The Post, adding, “She no longer works for us.”
In 2020, Sanchez allegedly slapped and berated the 5-year-old, held his wrist down on a desk, threw his toy across the room and taunted him when he acted out, leaving him traumatized, according to court papers.
A teacher confronted Sanchez about her alleged behavior and expressed her belief that the school could not meet the boy’s needs, but Sanchez continued to mislead his parents and failed to evaluate him, Kelly claimed in the suit.
“Even the most superficial background check should have raised questions about the reports of her prior misconduct,” Kelly’s attorney, Andrew Buzin, told The Post this week.
“If I were a parent at that school and found out about the incidents revealed during discovery in our case, I would demand to know how the school determined that she was fit to be in a classroom,” he added.
Before the St. Joseph School, Sanchez worked as a teacher, facilitator and chairperson for the Committee on Special Education for the New Rochelle City School District, according to reports.
She could not immediately be reached for comment.
