I wonder if Dr. Henkel remembers me? I remember her.
My name is Grace and I am a sophomore nursing major at Utica
College. I am also a cheerleader and
member of the Student Nursing Association and Drama Club. I am now a counselor of 6
graders at the Halfmoon Recreation day camp program.
I am speaking tonight because I don’t want another child to
experience what I did at my school under the supervision of Dr. Lisa Henkel.
It took me years of counseling to restore my self-esteem and
self-confidence. I still have
flash-backs of how I was made to feel about myself at Boght Hills School. No 6 or 7 year old special education student
should be humiliated, physically and emotionally harmed, at the direction of
their elementary school principal.
My IEP which promised
an inclusion classroom was ignored by Dr. Henkel who felt she was above any
special education program designed for a student. It was her school and things would be done
her way. The teachers that tried to help me were reprimanded and remained
silent at my CSE meetings fearing retribution.
I still have flash-backs of the numerous times I ran away from that school building. The adults called it bolting.
Their “bolting” - I called “escape”.
Escape from constant emotional and physical abuse I
experienced while a student at Boght Hills while Lisa Henkel was principal.
My last day attending Boght Hills was in May of second grade
2002. By then my mother was in a hearing
process due to numerous IEP violations.
Dr. Henkel instructed my teachers to engage me in a behavior in a locked
room and video tape it. This film Dr.
Henkel would “use” as evidence that I did not belong in her school. As my teachers incited my behavior Dr. Henkel
called the Colonie Police to respond to school with two armed police
officers. I was seven years old and weighed 60 pounds. My mother rescued me that day and I never had
to go back to that school and see Lisa Henkel again.
I urge you to listen to the parents and teachers who tell
you something is not right. Something
was very wrong in 2002 and the only way it got better was for me to leave. No child, parent or teacher should endure the
pain I did under Lisa Henkel. It’s time
to take a stand and get back your school as you know and love it. Thank you.
"Grace Pfeifer who was a student at Boght Hills School while Dr. Lisa Henkel was principal there was asked to stop speaking during the Wynantskill Union Free School District BOE meeting. Teachers Union President Matt Lutz invited Grace to speak."
