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Parent tells Duplin County Schools board his nonverbal kindergartner was physically abused and urges charges, staff removals
Summary
At the March 3 Duplin County Schools board meeting, parent and retired social worker Vincenzo Vadas accused staff at North Duplin Elementary of physically abusing his nonverbal, autistic kindergartner and called for staff removals and criminal charges; the board did not take public action on the allegation during the meeting.
Vincenzo Vadas, a retired social worker and parent, told the Duplin County Schools board on March 3 that his 5‑year‑old daughter — identified in the transcript as Vera Valeria, a kindergartner at North Duplin Elementary — has stage‑2 autism, is nonverbal and was “manhandled” by staff.
“Instead of finding sanctuary of learning, she has encountered a landscape of systematic discrimination and physical abuse,” Vadas said, adding that another teacher had come forward to report the incident. “Because Valerie is nonverbal, she cannot tell me what happened with words. She reacts to physical trauma the only way she can. And how does this institution respond to a disabled child's cry for help? They suspend her for her reaction to her own abuse.”
Vadas accused the district of appointing internal investigators rather than seeking independent accountability and urged the board to “remove the individuals… and press charges against those individuals who physically abused my daughter.” He said he would continue to press for accountability.
The board did not respond to Vadas’s specific requests in the public record captured by the transcript. After public comment the agenda continued; the board later recessed into executive session for personnel and privileged matters and, upon returning to open session, approved the superintendent’s personnel request by voice vote. The transcript does not show any board motion or vote directly addressing Vadas’s allegations or specifying investigative steps, and no district response is recorded during the meeting.
The allegation names North Duplin Elementary and refers to a report “from within your own staff.” The board’s public actions at the March 3 meeting included routine agenda votes, a consent agenda and a separate vote to sell seven modular classrooms; none of those votes, as recorded in the transcript, indicate a formal district response to the abuse allegation.
The board and district communications office were not recorded replying on the meeting transcript. The transcript records the parent’s detailed allegation and the board’s procedural actions but does not include any independent findings, follow‑up assignments, or identified law‑enforcement referrals. The timing and outcome of any separate investigations or processes are not specified in the meeting record.
