Substitute teacher faces assault charge
Accused of attacking two 14-year-old students with special needs at Burgard High School
A substitute teacher faces charges after attacking two 14-year-old male special needs students at Burgard High School on Friday, Buffalo police said.
Jonathan D. Belasco, 54, of Eggert Road, Amherst, who was arrested on misdemeanor assault and other charges, is accused of “pushing, slapping and punching” one of the students “about his head, face and body,” then pushing the other. The crime occurred about 11 a.m., while he was teaching in the Kensington Avenue school, police said.
Burgard Principal Florence S. Krieter filed the report with police on behalf of the two students Friday. Each criminal complaint was signed by the students’ mothers.
Details about what triggered the confrontation were unavailable late Friday.
Buffalo Schools spokesman Stefan Mychajliw declined to comment, referring questions to Buffalo police.
Belasco, charged with a single count of misdemeanor assault, also is charged with two counts each of harassment and endangering the welfare of a child. He was arrested at 1:25 p. m. in School 81, 140 Tacoma Ave., according to police.
Buffalo Teachers Federation President Philip Rumore said the union does not represent substitute teachers and referred questions to the New York State United Teachers offices in Albany. NYSUT spokesman Carl Korn, who said he was unfamiliar with the case, urged school officials to proceed cautiously.
“As a union, we have no stake in protecting those teachers who hurt children and tarnish our profession,” said Korn, who added that the union is obliged to make sure any teacher “charged with wrongdoing is afforded due process.”
Efforts to reach the mothers of the two teenage boys and Belasco were unsuccessful.
