A substitute classroom aide at an elementary school on the Northwest Side is facing serious charges after an incident involving an 8-year-old nonverbal autistic boy. Prosecutors revealed that a CPS security officer observed the incident live via surveillance cameras, witnessing the aide dragging and pushing the child during a three-minute confrontation outside a school bathroom.
Melissa Monroy, 48, who served as a substitute special education classroom aide at Beard Elementary School, located at 6445 West Strong Street in Norwood Park, has been charged with aggravated battery of a child under 13, resulting in significant bodily harm.
According to prosecutors, the boy was being taken to the bathroom by another special education aide when he became disruptive and fell to the hallway floor outside the restroom at approximately 11:13 a.m. on January 29.
Simultaneously, Monroy was accompanying a female student to the restroom. Prosecutors stated that the aides exchanged students, with the other assistant escorting the girl to the girls’ restroom while Monroy assumed responsibility for the boy.
Authorities reported that Monroy initially attempted to lift the boy by his arms, but he resisted. She allegedly then used her feet to push his body, applying leg pressure to his back as she moved him toward the bathroom entrance.
Prosecutors detailed that the boy, seated on the floor, was pushed across the hallway on his buttocks. As he grabbed at Monroy’s legs, she stepped back and continued pushing against his back with her feet while he resisted by bracing his legs against the doorway and holding onto her legs.
Monroy allegedly then dragged him by one leg into the bathroom while his legs were spread, as described in a detention filing. Despite his resistance, prosecutors said Monroy continued to push and pull him toward the bathroom entrance and refused to let him leave, repeatedly shoving him against a wall.
The child was crying when the incident concluded as a male staff member arrived with other students to escort the boy into the restroom, according to prosecutors.
The confrontation, lasting around three minutes, was captured on surveillance video. A school security officer who witnessed the event contacted the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and, along with the school’s assistant principal, filed a report with the agency.
After DCFS was informed, prosecutors said the school notified the boy’s father, who called 911 the following day to file a police report.
Prosecutors emphasized that the appropriate response when a special needs student refuses to move is to wait for them to calm down or seek help from other staff. They highlighted that special education assistants should not force resistant students to move.
The boy later reported back pain and was taken to Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital for evaluation. On February 8, he returned to the hospital due to behavioral changes, vomiting, and what prosecutors described as a presumed headache.
Judge Shauna Boliker denied the prosecutors’ request to detain Monroy before trial, ordering her release under standard conditions, including no contact with the child.
CPS did not respond to a request for information and comment.
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