WESTFIELD—Parents and guardians of North Middle School students received a robocall Friday notifying them that their children are safe.
According to Westfield Schools Superintendent Stefan Czaporowski, the call was in relation to an allegation made about a Westfield Schools employee and was to notify parents and guardians that North Middle School children were safe and said to not be involved. According to Czaporowski, he was contacted by Westfield Police regarding the allegation.
“We received an allegation of an employee,” Czaporowski said. “The employee is not in the school and the allegations are not against any of the students and that’s why we said that all the students are safe.”
Czaporowski said that the department removed the person from the building following this and followed procedures and protocols.
However, when asked about the allegations, Czaporowski said that he “can’t comment further than that,” citing issues of privacy and said that this is currently a personnel matter that is being investigated by the department.
“While the investigation goes on they are on leave,” Czaporowski added.
Early Friday morning, The Westfield News received an email with a link to a 20-minute video from POP Squad, a Connecticut-based group, that allegedly showed an employee reportedly from the Westfield School Department being confronted at a retail establishment in Connecticut about some questionable actions.
The nature of the video’s content is currently being verified for authenticity but the receipt of it has school officials investigating the matter.
According to Westfield Police Capt. Michael McCabe, “the problem has been addressed internally by the school.”
When asked about the next step for the Westfield Police Department, McCabe said that “we are waiting for the response from our sister department in Connecticut.”
According to Southington Police Lt. Steve Elliott, an investigation is underway within their department and that the department did receive information pertaining to the POP Squad video.
“Very early in the investigation and not sure if we have anything criminal yet,” Elliott said.
However, Elliott did not identify who was being investigated or details of the investigation.
