Catholic school employee fired after alleged “spanking” incident.

LEWISTON, N.Y. — A Niagara County Catholic school employee has been fired over a bizarre incident that allegedly occurred Friday, according to the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.

2 On Your Side heard about the incident over the weekend from parents who said they were upset about what allegedly happened at St. Peter RC School on North 6th Street in Lewiston.

According to the parents, their children told them that on their birthday, a lunch lady wanted to beat the students with a meter stick, and that several of them leaned over and allowed the lunch lady, who they said had once worked for the police, to knock their rear ends.

Even if it were done playfully or as a joke, diocesan communications director Joe Martone told WGRZ Monday morning that it was highly inappropriate and something that cannot and will not be tolerated.

“Absolutely not,” Martone said. “Corporal punishment is a thing of the past and it should remain that way, and if the alleged incident took place as I have outlined it is completely inappropriate and unacceptable.”

Martone said this was true even if one knew that the “spanking” was not punishment or carried out in jest.

“You don’t mess around with things like that when it comes to kids,” Martone said. “There are boundaries that must not be crossed.”

In fact, on Monday afternoon it was confirmed by the diocese that the employee had been fired and the school issued a statement of apology.

The full statement can be found below.

This morning, St. Peter RC School administration was made aware of an unfortunate incident that occurred in the cafeteria on May 10th, involving one of our staff members.

Her treatment of students was inappropriate and a clear breach of the Code of Conduct. She was immediately dismissed and the school is following reporting protocol.

Our top priority is the well-being and safety of our school community and we sincerely apologize for this incident. This breach of trust does not accurately reflect our school and church.

As part of the utmost care for our students and the school community, counseling services are made available to those affected.

-Statement from St. Peter RC School