Family of student verbally attacked by teacher may sue - WFXG FOX 54 - News Now

A Waterbury teacher made inflammatory remarks directed at some students, which was caught on tape, and now, the family said the teacher is getting off easy.

The family told Eyewitness News they are so upset, they may sue the school district.

"He doesn't want to go to school," said Ray Willette, who was with his 13-year-old son, Blake Willette. "He's nervous, the kids are making fun of him."

Last month, Ray Willette said it all started after what his son's teacher, 17-year veteran Marylou Addona, allegedly said last month inside a classroom at Waterbury's Duggan Elementary School. 

Teacher: "I heard you had an attitude today too. Is that true? What is your name anyway?"

Student: "Blake."

Teacher: "Blake? Irish, Italian, French, what are you white? You think you're cool with that name, Blake, huh?"

Another 8th grader secretly recorded everything on an iPod and Marty Minella, who is the attorney representing Blake, and his dad said Addona wasn't done. 

"She kept referring to him as 'new guy,'" Minella said. "Then she started with 'Blake the Flake'."

Addona can be heard on the recording allegedly threatening to punch another student in the face.

"I'm going to punch him right in the face and break the glass in his eye," Addona said on the recording.

"First day in school, we just moved back into Connecticut and when he came home crying, I thought he was overreacting," Ray Willette said. "You can't dream of a teacher saying and doing the things he claimed."

The school district told Eyewitness News Addona was suspended without pay for three days and when school starts up again after spring break, she won't be in the classroom.

Addona was reassigned to the city's adult education program. They said that's not enough and are considering suing the school district.

"I don't want her working with kids," Ray Willette said. "I think she needs to be looked at, treated."

"We know its affecting him because his father says he's not sleeping well, not eating well, doesn't want to go to school," Minella said. "They want to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else."

Eyewitness News reached out to both Addona and the union president with the Waterbury Teacher's Association, but did not get a response.

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