Middleboro school counselor charged with slapping 10-year-old student

MIDDLEBORO — A 50-year-old Attleboro man is facing assault and battery charges after police say he slapped a 10-year-old across the face at a Middleboro school.

Steven Adamec, an adjustment counselor at READS Collaborative, was arrested last Friday and charged with assault and battery on a child with injury, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, threatening to commit a crime and assault and battery on a person with an intellectual disability.

Officers responded to the READS Collaborative, at 44 Bedford St., about 3:43 p.m. on Friday after the school called police to report an employee had assaulted a student.

READS Collaborative is a school that aims to "provide creative, flexible solutions that promote the success and well-being of each child, adolescent and adult learner." It provides therapeutic services to students with a wide range of challenges.

Police say through an investigation they determined Adamec had struck a 10-year-old student across the side of their face following an argument.

"Police subsequently determined that Adamec dragged the student by the arm and pushed him into a door while escorting him out of a classroom," Police Chief Joseph Perkins wrote in a statement. "Adamec then used his left hand to strike the student across the side of their face."

Adamec was arrested at the school and booked at the Middleboro police station, where he posted $500 pending arraignment. He was arraigned Monday in Wareham District Court, where he pleaded not guilty.

Adamec hired local prominent defense attorney Kevin Reddington, who did not appear for the arraignment.

A prosecutor from the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office asked Judge Edward Sharkansky to impose an additional $1,000 bail and a stay away/no contact order from the victim, the school and anyone under the age of 18, minus immediate family.

Sharkansky declined to impose any additional bail, but did order Adamec to stay away and have no contact with the victim or the school.

Adamec is due back in court on Jan. 26 for a pre-trial hearing.

Adamec is a licensed mental health counselor and school adjustment counselor with over 20 years of counseling experience in community, school, home and office settings, according to his Psychology Today profile.

Enterprise senior reporter Cody Shepard can be reached by email at cshepard@enterprisenews.com.