ELDRED, NY — An Eldred Central School parent told the River Reporter that her daughter recently suffered a series of highly distressing incidents on campus that have left the daughter depressed and dreading class.

The parent, who asked that her and her two daughters’ names not be used because they feared repercussions, said the first incident, in October, set off an escalation that left her feeling that a personal animosity was directed against her family.

She said her 14-year-old daughter and about 10 to 15 other students showed up at a school dance held in October. The high school principal threw them back out into the street, at night, in their fancy dresses, because their grades were not good enough—but without ever informing their parents. The parent who talked to the River Reporter thought her daughter was safely at the dance before finding out two hours later that the whole time she’d been at the home of a friend, whose mother picked them up.

She said the high school principal, Michael Conklin, went around the dance hall that night with his laptop, checking the attendees against the school’s academic eligibility list.

Furious, the parent confronted the superintendent, Traci Ferreira, as well as Conklin and the school board, and was assured that they would “put in all these protocols” to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“I had a conversation with Mr. Conklin after we met to make sure he understands the procedures that I have outlined will be followed to a tee,” said Ferreira in an email to the parent that she shared with the River Reporter. The superintendent then goes on to outline the steps the school will take in the future: Parents and students will be notified of academic ineligibility prior to events. Chaperones will assist the principal with supervising students who must leave because of academic ineligibility or unruly behavior by escorting them to the main office. There, the parents will be called and the students will wait to be picked up.

Since her daughter was not hurt, the parent said she’d decided at that point to move on. But she feels school officials have not. She believes the principal and the school resource officer, Sean Grady, were involved in a campaign to harass her daughter.

The parent’s views are her own and do not reflect the views of the River Reporter.

A violent shaking

The second incident happened in the school cafeteria, when a boy three years older and much bigger than her daughter shook her violently by the arm. This left the girl with red marks on her arm and terrified.

The parent said her daughter was badly upset by the assault. The school assured her the boy would not be in school with her daughter again.

That ended up not being the case. The assault was on a Friday, and the boy was in school the following Monday, as usual. Seeing that, a concerned guidance counselor called the girl’s parents during the school day to ask how their daughter was doing. The parent had no idea the boy was on campus.

The parent viewed the school’s camera footage from that day. She said it showed the boy climbing stairs several feet behind her daughter, who was seemingly unaware, and the two splitting off in different directions at the top of the stairwell.

She said Conklin apologized to her, and that Ferreira told her she had 100 percent confidence in her staff to protect her daughter, even with the boy at school.

“How can you say that, when she was in a stairwell with him and no staff around?” the parent asked.

The relationship between the school and the family continued to deteriorate. The parent said Conklin was reading aloud to Grady, in a nonprivate place at school, an email she wrote to the superintendent while speaking negatively about her and her husband. Her older daughter, also an Eldred student, had gone to fill up her water bottle and could not help but hear the conversation.

“I told her, ‘These guys can say whatever they want about me. Just go to school and do your work,’” the parent said.

‘Pressing issues’

During class, her older daughter’s teacher got a phone call. It was from Grady. According to the parent, he told the teacher to scold the older daughter for eavesdropping.

The parent demanded to see the video of her daughter being assaulted. She started to get the idea of a grudge against her family when Grady first said he could not show her the video because the matter was under criminal investigation. But when he declared the investigation over, he still refused to show it.

“During our meeting this Friday December 15th 2023, we will discuss the harassment case which occurred on December 1st 2023, as well as other pressing issues. Look forward to our meeting,” he wrote in an email to the parent that she shared with the paper.

The parent wrote back that she was unsure of “other pressing issues.”

“If you have pressing issues with my child I’m concerned why it has taken until Wednesday to be notified and are willing to wait until Friday. A pressing issue is needed to be handled immediately. Please contact me with the issues you are having with her that are so urgent.

“I also will be watching the video because as the parents of under FERPA I am allowed to watch the video no matter what the status of your investigation.

“I have emailed the superintendent and already have put in writing, I will be watching the video under FERPA. She agreed.

“Please have the video ready for us to watch.”

Grady wrote back: “If you are referring to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) this gives parents certain rights with respect to their children’s education records but does not allow parents to watch any videos of students. The pressing issue that I am referring to I recently discovered while reviewing video surveillance in the school. I look forward to our meeting on Friday.”

The pressing issue, as it turned out, was her daughter patting her best friend’s butt in the jokey way kids do, the parent said.

She feels Grady, egged on by the principal, is trying to build a case against her daughter, by asking her daughter’s friends at school leading questions about the girl. She remembers telling Grady, “You kind of scared me.”

She still hadn’t seen the video of her daughter being shaken. Grady told her that there was no assault, and “I’m not showing you any videos.”

A racist rant, and lifesaving actions

The parent became more alarmed than ever when she saw a video posted to social media in which Grady, behind the wheel of a police cruiser, could be heard ranting, “I try to get those nondriving m-----f-----s off the road, especially those god d----d Mexicans.”

Ferreira, the superintendent, would not tell the River Reporter much. About the dance night incident, she would only say, “It was not the best choice.”

About Grady’s reported actions, and the offensive video, she would only say that Grady is not an Eldred Central School employee, that he works for the Office of the Sullivan County Sheriff, and that the River Reporter should call the sheriff for any matters pertaining to him.

Undersheriff Eric Chaboty told the River Reporter he “absolutely” stands by Grady. “That’s a young Sean Grady,” he said of the offensive video, which he said was taken in 2010—when Grady had already been working for the sheriff’s department for four years.

“He was disciplined for that and received training,” Chaboty said.

He said it was a different “code of conduct” 13 years ago, and that Grady would face more consequences if he offended in the same way now, with the issue referred immediately to the county attorney. But he said Grady has had a sterling record ever since and is an excellent officer.

Detective Eric Breihof and Deputy Sheriff Sean Grady pose with the sheriff, undersheriff and members of the legislature after receiving their …

He told the story of Grady taking a youth group to get a Christmas tree, and digging into his own pocket when the group didn’t have enough to cover the purchase.

Grady and Detective Eric Breihof received lifesaving awards after rescuing a child at Swinging Bridge Reservior while on marine duty in July. A member of the Hudson Valley Regional Police Pipes and Drums, he played the bagpipes for students as they returned to school after the COVID shutdown.

Chaboty said any school that contracts with the sheriff’s office can ask for a different school resource officer. He offered to send the River Reporter a snippet of video that he said would cast the whole situation in a new light, if the paper sent a Freedom of Information Act request. The paper did. Chaboty responded:

“After our conversation, I reached out to some retired members of the Sheriff’s Patrol who were around in 2010 when Sean Grady got in trouble with that video. They reminded me that while Deputy Grady made a disparaging remark about ‘Mexicans,’ but he did not make any racist remarks and therefore his discipline was based accordingly. Grady had four years on the job at that point. He now has 18. That incident will be 14 years old this coming March.

“On another note, Tom Cawley, the Deputy County Attorney, is going to deny your foil in the... report and refer you back to the school district for further information. Personally, I can’t see why, but I am not an attorney."

As for the parent and her daughter, their anguish continues.

“What they are doing is irrational,” she said.

See related story on academic ineligibility requirements at local schools in "When you don't make the grade, or the dance."