Bloomfield School Aide Sues District, Claims She Was Fired For Protecting Special Ed Students

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — A former school aide in Bloomfield is suing the district and her ex-employer, claiming that she was retaliated against for blowing the whistle about several “hostile” interactions involving special education students.

Amanee Mercedat, an East Orange resident, filed a lawsuit on Aug. 20 against the Bloomfield Board of Education and ESS Support Services LLC, a private company that supplies substitute teachers, paraprofessionals and other support staff to schools across the U.S.

According to the lawsuit, Mercedat was hired by ESS and initially assigned to work at the district’s summer program at Oakview Elementary School. She was assigned for more work at Watsessing Elementary School around April 2024, where her duties included assisting special education students throughout the school day, escorting them from buses, guiding them to breakfast and supporting classroom instruction.

At the start of the 2024-2025 school year, Mercedat was assigned to a classroom headed by a former paraprofessional who had recently been promoted to a teaching role.

“Almost immediately, [Mercedat] became concerned by [the teacher’s] conduct toward students, particularly those in the special education program,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims that Mercedat saw the teacher engage in acts of “physical aggression,” including dragging a young girl across the classroom floor. He also allegedly locked students in padded rooms called the “Quiet Room” while they had pencils in their possession, stepped on children’s bare feet and was “verbally hostile” towards the children in his classroom.

Believing that the behavior was against the law, Mercedat reported her concerns to district administrators in September 2024, including the head of the special education department and a supervisor with the Bloomfield school board. She also reported the behavior to her supervisor at ESS.

Three days later, Mercedat got a text message that she was no longer needed at Watsessing Elementary School – even though other ESS paraprofessionals remained assigned to the same classroom that she was removed from.

Mercedat was then offered work at either Berkeley Elementary or Fairview Elementary, picking the former for her new assignment, the lawsuit continues.

Mercedat says she witnessed another troubling incident involving a student with autism at Berkeley Elementary in March of 2025.

According to Mercedat, the classroom’s teacher put the student outside in the hallway after an emotional episode involving a reading assignment. No staff member checked on the student for more 10 minutes, and he remained in the hallway crying and unsupervised, she said.

Mercedat brought the student to the nurse’s office and was allowed to stay with him while she ate her lunch. Shortly afterwards, the school’s principal entered the office and told her that it was “illegal” to remove a student from their classroom.

Later that month, Mercedat got an email that she’d been fired from both the Bloomfield school district and ESS. The grounds for termination included “inappropriate conduct, unsatisfactory behavior and failure to follow policies and procedures.”

After her removal from the Bloomfield district, ESS only offered her positions that were more than an hour away from her home – which she alleges was retaliation for whistleblowing.

Mercedat is seeking damages including front pay, back pay, emotional distress, embarrassment and humiliation, as well as attorneys’ fees, and costs of suit from the Bloomfield Board of Education and ESS Support Services.

Patch reached out to the Bloomfield Public School District and ESS seeking comment about the lawsuit. We will update this article with any reply we receive.

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