To Whom it May Concern: My name is Susan Frazer. I will not attend Court today to speak, because I am a dedicated teacher and my place is in the classroom with my students. I will not
allow Ms. DeCosta’s actions
of October 11, 2018, to further impact their education by causing me to be absent. On October 11, 2018, I was assaulted in my workplace, Noah Webster MicroSociety Magnet School, by the defendant, Cassandra DeCosta. As the victim in this case, I vehemently object to the defendant
’s application for accelerated pretrial
rehabilitation. Ms. DeCosta has a history of being verbally abusive to and threatening teachers at Noah Webster for at least two years. A month before assaulting me this year, she left a recorded phone message for a male teacher telling him that if he did not call her
back she would “come to the school and act aggressively.” I
have written statements from teachers as well as the saved phone message to support these facts. When Ms. Decosta entered my classroom and verbally then physically assaulted me, her conduct affected me physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially. As you know from other court documents, the assault required a visit to the Hartford Hospital Emergency Room, where I was examined and x-rayed for injuries to my right shoulder. Although it was determined there was no fracture, I suffered limited mobility to my right shoulder and arm for several weeks. The injury caused me to cut short my motorcycle- riding season by almost four weeks. While this may seem trivial to some, motorcycle riding is my passion and something I enjoy every weekend as a wonderful way to relieve work -related stress.
I resented “losing”
those final gorgeous riding days.
Ms. Decosta’s verbal ass
ault was rife with racial slurs and vulgarity. It was witnessed by 20 of my students. Coupled with the physical assault, this greatly affected me emotionally. I relived the scene in my mind over and over again for days, wondering what I could have done differently to protect my students from her tirade? I began to have trouble sleeping. I had difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. I thought of Sandy Hook, and other schools where acts of extreme violence have occurred, and I have agonized over whether or not I could have protected my students had she turned her wrath on them. My school administrator and Central Office Administrators advised me to seek counseling through the Employee Assistance Program, and I have done so. I am struggling with mild PTSD and am still in counseling. As a 20 year veteran teacher in Hartford, I have never experienced such violence in my workplace. Ever. I think about my students who witnessed this violence in the classroom and I worry about the trauma they may have internalized.
I worry about what they heard, about how it affected them…having a stranger enter
the classroom, OUR classroom, and spew forth such hatred at a teacher they care about. I cry often as I relive all of these feelings of helplessness and student safety over and over again.