2 administrators at Smith Elementary in Denver placed on leave

Denver Public Schools placed two Smith Elementary School administrators on leave Monday while police investigate a report of an assault on campus last week.

Principal Chadwick Anderson and his deputy Catherine Vermeer have been placed on leave effective immediately, according to a letter DPS officials sent to parents Monday afternoon and obtained by The Denver Post.

DPS spokesman Scott Pribble declined to provide details about the reasons for the administrators' leave of absence. The letter to parents also did not provide any further information, other than to say that the leave of absence is “standard procedure until a matter is resolved or an investigation is completed.”

But the parent of a 10-year-old student with disabilities told the Post that the child had two altercations with Vermeer last week — on Wednesday and again on Friday — and in both incidents the assistant principal became violent and allegedly stepped on the child's feet. (The Post is withholding the parent's name to protect the child's privacy.)

The school administration suspended the ten-year-old after both incidents and the police were called after the altercation on Friday, the parent said.

Denver police confirmed that officers responded to a report of an assault at the school on Friday and the investigation is ongoing. No arrests have been made as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the agency.

Vermeer declined to comment for this story. Anderson could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The parent said the school did not provide the child with the support he needed at school, including in the form of a resource worker who works as a teacher's assistant and often works with students with disabilities. Last week's incidents may not have happened if the child had had the support of an additional resource worker, the parent said.

“I'm grateful the district is doing something,” the parent said. “The safety of all these children needs to be checked, but that's obviously not the case.”