A former lunch monitor at a Monroe County elementary school sued the principal, superintendent and school district for defamation stemming from an April incident involving tape on children’s mouths.
In her lawsuit filed on Aug. 14 in the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas, former Hamilton Elementary lunch monitor Dorothy Lanza said she was defamed in statements made by Principal Mark Getz and Stroudsburg Area School District Superintendent Cosmas Curry.
According to the lawsuit, on April 9, Lanza "jokingly" asked students who were "unnecessarily noisy" if they required tape to keep quiet as they were lining up for dismissal from first-grade lunch. A janitor than handed her a roll of blue painters' tape.
Lanza tore off small pieces of tape and handed them to students. The lawsuit says that while students played with their pieces of tape, it is believed "that some of the students may have placed those pieces of tape over their own mouths while playing."
A fellow lunch monitor later issued a sworn statement saying that Lanza "playfully" asked students “who needs tape to keep quiet” with students responding with “me, me” in a "playful way" as well. The lunch monitor wrote that she saw students placing the tape on their mouths, and never witnessed Lanza taping their mouths shut.