Stephanie Labodin is the mother of an 8-year-old child with Down syndrome who attends Marbletown Elementary School. Late in the 2025–26 school year, she received a phone call informing her of an allegation of teacher misconduct involving her son. Labodin said the call came 23 hours after the incident.

Labodin told the Shawangunk Journal that the incident began a series of events that left her frustrated by what she described as the district’s failure to provide information about what happened to her son.

“That situation was handled so poorly it’s not even funny,” Labodin said. “All I was told was that there was an allegation of teacher misconduct regarding my son, and the only bit of information that they would give me was that the allegation occurred on the playground and it was with a [teaching assistant] who was working with him.”

According to Labodin, she was unable to get further information from school staff. Her son’s teachers were told not to speak with her. As Labodin’s son is nonverbal, he could not tell her what happened either.

With Rondout Central School District Superintendent Paul Spadaro on vacation at the time, Labodin was referred to Tabitha Biggane, assistant superintendent for business services, and Natalie Harjes, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

Labodin said the administrators repeatedly told her the investigation was nearing completion, only to say additional interviews were needed. “They would tell me, ‘Tomorrow I have my last investigation, it’s all wrapped up. I have the report ready. It’s all typed up, I just need this one investigation to be done.’ The next day would turn around, and then, ‘Oh no, I need to do another interview,’” Labodin said.

While the district allowed Labodin to view security footage, the camera quality was too poor to see anything beyond her son going to the back of the playground.

Labodin said the district did not provide the additional information she sought. She still does not know which staff member the allegation was made against. She said school officials also would not tell her which part of her son’s body might have been involved, information she wanted in order to seek appropriate medical attention. Instead, she went to a doctor and said, “We have no idea what you’re looking at or looking for because [the school district] won’t tell us anything.”

Labodin then went to the state police. They subpoenaed the district for information, but Labodin said the information obtained did not clarify what happened to her son.

Labodin brought her concerns to the public at the Oct. 13 Rondout school board meeting, where she called for greater accountability and advocated for students with special needs.

“Can you imagine having a child that you can’t communicate with, and hearing something might have happened to him, and you’re not being told what happened, and just continue on with [your] day?” Labodin told the school board. “How do you think I feel sending my kid to school every single day, knowing that you guys control the safety of my child?”

When Labodin was told her three minutes to speak were up, she said, “That's fine. I'm leaving because you guys have just shown time and time again you're not here for the kids. And the more you say you are, the more you're lying yourself.”

‘Major Red Flags’

Labodin’s statements came in the wake of another incident at school involving her son. Just two weeks after school started up in September, she said she got a call on a Friday morning informing her that a teacher put her son in a physical hold for five minutes. According to Labodin, the contact took place after her son knocked over a desk. The call came four hours after the fact.

“It always seems to happen on a Friday or three-day weekend,” Labodin said, adding that the calls usually come at the end of the working day, which doesn’t give her time to respond before the district office shuts down for the weekend.

Labodin said at the school’s Parents Night, she had asked where her son’s desk was located. She said her son sometimes knocks things over and that she had asked school officials to seat him away from other students. She disputed the need for the physical hold, saying she did not believe her son posed the kind of physical threat that would justify it.

Labodin said she continued to have difficulty obtaining information from the district.

Labodin said Principal Andrew Davenport told her he was not required to provide documentation after the hold occurred. She said this raised questions about whether the district had followed state requirements. When she received the report nearly a week later, she said it was incomplete and that printing errors obscured some of the text.

“The teacher just put him in a hold. She didn’t try any other methods that I’m told,” Labodin said. “My son doesn’t have a behavior plan. That was never done because they just forced out the behavior specialist, so right now, my son had to get to know a whole new behavior specialist and they’re starting to write one.”

Labodin said she has raised concerns about her children’s educational rights and support services over several years.

“Every single year my kids’ rights in this district have been completely violated,” Labodin said. “Every year, the [Individualized Education Plan] is broken in some way or another. There’s always some issue. We’ve had it from the bus monitor calling my son a brat on the bus to a teacher actually bullying my child when she was getting bullied from other children.”

Labodin said she has also raised concerns about how the district's decisions have affected her 14-year-old daughter, who has special needs.

“Last week, I got a phone call from [a member of] my daughter’s [Committee on Special Education team, which coordinates how a school district deals with a child with special needs] telling me that it was her last day, and that it basically came down to a conversation that the district’s values are changing in a way that the staff aren’t feeling comfortable and safe to continue to be in our district.”

The District Response

The school district’s statement to the Shawangunk Journal did not directly address Labodin’s specific concerns about the incidents. Instead, it outlined the district’s general policies on student safety, behavioral interventions and confidentiality. The response stated that student safety remains the “highest priority” of the district, and that concerns are taken “very seriously.” It also said the district recognizes “student behavioral challenges are complex and require a comprehensive approach that emphasizes prevention, accountability, positive relationships, and social-emotional development.”

“Our district's Code of Conduct establishes clear expectations for student behavior, staff responsibilities, appropriate interventions, and procedures for addressing bullying, harassment, discrimination, and physical altercations,” the statement reads. “When incidents occur, our administrators respond promptly, investigate the circumstances, communicate with families as appropriate, and determine necessary disciplinary actions and supportive interventions in accordance with district policies and applicable laws.”

The district also stated that federal and state confidentiality laws limit the amount of information the district can publicly share regarding individual students and disciplinary matters, but “our commitment to transparency, accountability and continuous improvement remains unwavering.”

Labodin said she intends to continue pressing the district for answers and advocating for students with special needs.

“My next steps are really just to stay on top of them. I think that’s what everybody has to do,” Labodin said. “I’m not going to stop at all until my kids and any kid that has special needs gets what they’re legally entitled to, and that’s all it is. At the end of the day, I’m only fighting to get my kids what they are legally entitled to, nothing extra.”