NYC teacher repeatedly beaten by second graders, lawsuit says

A teacher says she was repeatedly beaten by a second grader in a Queens classroom.

Cathleen DeGarmo has sued the city’s Department of Education for $2 million, saying the agency failed to protect her from a violent student at P4 Elementary School in Fresh Meadows at least three times in the second half of 2021.

The alleged beatings occurred while DeGarmo was teaching in September 2021 and twice the following November — and left the teacher with “severe” injuries, including tears in both shoulders.

In one of the incidents, the student began scratching DeGarmo’s chest and shoulders and banging his head, according to reports filed in court. In another case, the student repeatedly hit the teacher.

DeGarmo, 58, a special education teacher, claims the DOE never told her the student had a history of assault and disruptive behavior.

She further alleges that the school failed to supervise the unnamed student or removed him from the school’s special education program after the incidents.

The lawsuit also accuses the school of negligence for failing to provide teachers with assistants or helpers who could help keep their classrooms safe.

Neither the Department of Education nor DeGarmo commented on the case, which was filed in the Queens Supreme Court on Monday.

The Department of Education does not keep public data on teacher assaults, but the NYPD reported that at least 52 school security officers have been injured by students so far this year, and more than half have been taken to the hospital.

According to the NYPD, a total of 58 school security officers were injured last year as a result of student misconduct, and 42 of them were taken to the hospital.