Shrub Oak Int'l School Worker Arrested for Assault

SHRUB OAK, N.Y. — An employee at the Shrub Oak International School is facing felony charges for allegedly assaulting a disabled student at the school, which bills itself as “a therapeutic day and residential school for autistic children, adolescents, and young adults with complex co-occurring conditions.”

According to the Yorktown Police Department, the incident occurred in the late afternoon of Nov. 1, when the department responded to reports of an incident at the school.

Police said an investigation by responding Officer Uhl found that 28-year-old East Fishkill resident Sebastien Borba-Ferreira allegedly “shoved and committed other endangering actions on a disabled student.” 

“This alleged behavior by the defendant was found to be likely injurious to the physical, mental, and moral welfare of the disabled student,” Yorktown police said in a statement. After Officer Uhl contacted him, Borba-Ferreira surrendered himself to Yorktown Police on Nov. 14.

Borba-Ferreira is charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person, a class E felony. He was arraigned by Judge Aviah Cohen-Pierson at the Yorktown Justice Court and released on his own recognizance. He is scheduled to appear in the Yorktown Justice Court on Jan. 16.

School officials said they alerted police when they discovered the incident.

“It was Shrub Oak [International School Staff] that contacted the local police to inform them of the incident,” Director of Communications and Outreach Mary E. Lavan said in an email. “It is Shrub Oak’s practice to contact local law enforcement whenever there is even a question of inappropriate behavior because we value their involvement and are committed to doing everything within our power to keep our students safe.”

According to Lavan, the school “maintains more than 450 cameras throughout the building and grounds, which are monitored by highly trained security professionals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”  

“When reports of potential inappropriate behavior are submitted through Shrub Oak’s mandated reporting system, the staff member in question is immediately removed from working with students and our team reviews any recordings, which may have captured the incident,” Lavan said, adding that if an internal investigation warrants it, the school calls law enforcement. 

“In this instance, we believed that was the appropriate course of action so we reached out to the Yorktown Police Department to inform them of the incident, which they are currently investigating,” Lavan said.