Criminal complaint filed accusing now former Westport teacher’s aide of assault & battery against special needs student

More details have been revealed concerning an alleged incident involving a local special needs student.

According to court records, a criminal complaint was issued Monday charging 44-year-old Bethany Bronhard with a misdemeanor Assault & Battery.

Arraignment is scheduled for April 2nd and the date of the alleged offense was listed as November 5th.

According to a statement issued in December by Fran Roy, Superintendent of Westport Community Schools, a then unnamed classroom teacher assistant who worked at Westport Elementary School resigned after the teacher assistant used excessive physical force with a student with disabilities.

“Westport Police and Massachusetts DCF investigated this incident and Westport Community Schools are cooperating with those investigations. The safety of our students is our top priority and conduct of this type by any staff toward any student is absolutely unacceptable and has no place in our schools.”

The announcement came a day after Kevin Aguiar resigned from his position as Principal of Westport Elementary School. Aguiar had served the school community since July 2023.

According to East Bay RI, Westport Police Patrol Officer Sarah Pacheco stated in a report that security camera footage from the elementary school captured a disturbing incident involving Bronhard and an 8-year-old male student.

The video shows the boy running down the hallway, away from his classroom and Bronhard. She pursues him, then grabs both of his legs and drags him on his back for approximately three-quarters of the hallway.

A short time later, another video clip shows Bronhard waiting outside a school bathroom alongside the vice principal. When the boy runs out of the bathroom, she immediately chases him, lifts him off the ground with one arm under his chest, then shifts her grip to under his armpit area and carries him back to the classroom.

School officials contacted Westport police two days after the incident, on Friday, November 7th.

East Bay RI, noted that Officer Pacheco met with Westport Community Schools human resources director Kristin McDaniel, Superintendent Dr. Fran Roy, and executive secretary Lori Melo to review the footage. When asked how the alleged assault was first reported internally, officials said the boy’s classroom teacher had notified former principal Kevin Aguiar and special education director Wendy Miranda. The school placed Bronhard on administrative leave, notified the Department of Children and Families (DCF), and began its own internal investigation, citing that her actions did not follow proper training or policy.

Following the meeting, Officer Pacheco met separately with the boy’s parents at police headquarters and showed them the video evidence. The mother told Pacheco she was “not happy” with the way Bronhard had treated her son. The father expressed anger and upset over the teacher’s actions but said he appreciated how the school was handling the situation.

Bronhard declined to give a statement to police in November.