New Jersey teacher forced 7-year-old student to eat lunch outside in dead of winter: lawsuit

A teacher forced a 7-year-old New Jersey boy to eat lunch outside in the February cold as punishment, a shocking lawsuit alleges.

The second-grader at Public School 4 in Belleville spent his lunch break in the parking lot after being accused of making fun of his teacher, his family said in the complaint filed in Essex County Superior Court .

But the boy was just repeating what his teacher said, not making fun, his family insisted.

When parents reported the “extreme” punishment, their concerns fell on deaf ears, they claimed.

The boy also had to confront other bullies.

In October 2023, the boy broke his nose after tripping and falling while running away from another student who had pulled down his pants, according to the suit.

And staff “constantly reprimanded” him for the time he spent in the bathroom, even though the school knew he suffered from chronic constipation, the family claimed.

The “serious and pervasive bullying, harassment and intimidation” left the boy with “significant emotional and psychological harm,” said the family, who are not identified in the court filing.

The boy was a target because of his Hispanic heritage and digestive issues, his parents said in court documents.

After his parents asked him about the draconian lunchtime punishment, teachers retaliated by giving the boy bad grades, his family said.

“To date, there has been no explanation for the change in grades,” the family said in legal documents. “This was retaliation for reporting abusive conduct at school and for retaliating against her child.”

The lawsuit – which seeks unspecified damages – alleges that the school, the teacher, the municipality and the Belleville school board contributed to the “institutional” abuse. The accused educator’s name is redacted in the suit.

Neither the family’s attorney nor the Belleville schools superintendent responded to messages.