Ossining superintendent: Rapist janitor hired before fingerprint law

<p>Some Ossining parents at Brookside Elementary School blasted administrators Thursday after learning a school janitor continued to work in their kids' school while facing charges of raping a child.</p>

News 12 Staff

Jun 1, 2017, 8:58 PM

Updated 2,514 days ago

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Some Ossining parents at Brookside Elementary School blasted administrators Thursday after learning a school janitor continued to work in their kids' school while facing charges of raping a child.
Samuel Campbell was convicted last year of sexually abusing a child under the age of 17 in Poughkeepsie, where he lives. He had worked at Brookside since 1998.
"They have this guy working with kids, and they have no idea that he's a sexual predator," says Sabrina Silver, the parent of a first-grader at the school.
The district says that if it had known of Campbell's past, his employment would have been suspended at the very least.
Superintendent Raymond Sanchez declined to speak with News 12, but in a letter to parents, he wrote that Campbell never told the district of his arrest, the charge or his conviction. He also explained that Campbell began working at the school before laws required fingerprinting for staff members.
The district says it moved quickly to fire Campbell after receiving an anonymous, handwritten note last week.
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