Wall Teacher Shuts Fourth Grader in Drum Closet, Suit Alleges

Partner R. Armen McOmber and Associate Austin B. Tobin represent Azuree and Edward Albanese, and their 11-year-old daughter, L.A., in a lawsuit against the Wall Township Board of Education (“WTBOE”) as well as two music teachers employed by the WTBOE, Jessica Berube (“Defendant Berube”) and Adrienne Foutz (“Defendant Foutz”) (all collectively “Defendants”), which was filed in Monmouth County Superior Court and asserts negligence and other related claims against Defendants. On behalf of her daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Albanese seek compensatory and punitive damages.

On April 8, 2022, allegedly because L.A., a fourth (4^th) grade student at the time, was laughing in class, Defendant Berube removed a drum set from a classroom closet and forcibly placed L.A. into said closet. Thereafter, Defendant Berube walked out of the closet, closed the door, and left L.A. alone and unsupervised. Making matters worse, once L.A. was eventually out of the classroom closet, she overheard Defendant Foutz tell a student to delete a recording of the aforementioned events.

“The allegations are very disturbing. As alleged in the Complaint, Mr. and Mrs. Albanese’s 11-year-old daughter was traumatized by blatantly negligent conduct on the part of Defendants on April 8, 2022 simply because she was allegedly laughing in class. Suffice to say, no parent would approve of such horrendous treatment of one of its students. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our clients in exposing this outrageous and unlawful behavior.” R. Armen McOmber, Esq., McOmber McOmber & Luber, P.C.