Abuse alleged at Yonkers special-needs school

• 2 former employees at the Biondi School at Leake and Watts are charged with restraining%2C striking a 13-year-old boy
• The alleged abuse occurred in October 2013
• Case investigated by the New York State Justice Center

YONKERS – Two former employees at the Biondi School at Leake and Watts have been charged with abusing a 13-year-old student, officials said Tuesday.

Pierre Henry, who worked as a teacher at the school, and Michael Holt, who worked as a substitute paraprofessional, are accused of holding the boy down and striking him, said Patricia E. Gunning, special prosecutor with the New York State Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs.

The boy did not suffer serious injuries, but did cry out in pain during the incident, Gunning said, adding that school officials have since fired Henry, of Danbury, Conn., and Holt, of Mount Vernon.

The Biondi School serves students with social and emotional needs from kindergarten through 12th grades.

Gunning said the incident, which occurred on Oct. 18, was reported to the Justice Center's Vulnerable Persons Central Register, a hotline by which all such institutions must notify state authorities when abuse or other wrongdoing is alleged.

The report initiated an investigation by the Justice Center, which then notified the Yonkers Police Department, Gunning said.

Henry, 39, and Holt, 45, each have been charged with several misdemeanors, including endangering the welfare of a child, second-degree unlawful imprisonment, third-degree menacing and third-degree attempted assault, Gunning said. Each man also faces a violation charge of second-degree harassment.

Henry and Holt were arraigned in Yonkers City Court and released without bail. They are both to return to court on May 7. A spokeswoman for the Justice Center said a court order has been issued preventing both men from contacting the alleged victim.

Several telephone numbers listed as Henry's were disconnected Tuesday. Messages left for Holt and for officials at the Biondi School were not immediately returned.

A number of incidents ty at the Biondi School, 463 Hawthorne Ave., have been reported in recent years.

On April 18, 2012, Corey Foster, 16, died while being restrained by four male staffers at the school during a dispute on the basketball court. An autopsy later found Foster, who had an enlarged heart, went into cardiac arrest during the scuffle. His death was ruled accidental.

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