Updated 04/22/2010 06:34 PM
Parents Criticize DOE For Delay In Reporting Alleged Abuse
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Parents at a Queens school where a teacher is accused of sexually abusing students say they should have been notified about the alleged incidents sooner.
The Department of Education says Simon Watts, 38, was removed from his classroom at P.S. 15 in Springfield Gardens last month.
Parents were only notified of the case in a letter sent home Wednesday.
DOE officials said they waited to notify parents until there was an arrest.
Watts is accused of abusing five female students between the ages of eight and 10 over the past three years.
At an emergency meeting last night, the Parent-Teacher Association president said another child came forward.
"As it was being spoken about, a student that was in the audience grabbed her mother and started crying and said that 'this has happened to me as well,'” said PTA President Tandrea Lane. “We as the parents just feel we should have been informed sooner."
"The way I used to see him with his class, I said, ‘oh, I want you to be my son's teacher.’ That's what I used to say,” said parent Sandra Lowman.
NY1 left a message for Watts's attorney but did not hear back.
The teachers' union would only say that the case is under investigation.