A former teacher at Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford pleaded guilty to charges stemming from four separate cases involving tickling or touching school-age girls, and parents in West Hartford say the response from both the school and Connecticut's child welfare agency left warning signs unaddressed for months. Nicholas Ricciardi worked at Solomon Schechter in West Hartford and at St. Gabriel School in Windsor, and three of the four cases against him involved Solomon Schechter students while the fourth involved a student at St. Gabriel.
Samantha Mendolia says she raised concerns with a school instructor on November 24, 2024, after her six-year-old daughter came home withdrawn and later disclosed concerns involving Ricciardi, according to NBC Connecticut. She says she alerted Head of School Rabbi Jonathan Berger and another administrator the next day. Berger has said the school began its own inquiry on November 26, placed Ricciardi on leave, and did not file a report with Connecticut's Department of Children and Families until December 2 — a gap the school has said was based on its lawyer's advice that it needed to investigate before reporting.
DCF declined to investigate after receiving that December 2 report from the school, per the same NBC Connecticut account. Solomon Schechter has said it did not believe the alleged conduct required a mandatory report but left that determination to DCF. Mendolia says she was told her daughter could return to class with Ricciardi under supervision and with no further tickling, and that the school proposed a restorative justice meeting in which Ricciardi would apologize and promise it would not happen again.
A Mother Pulls Her Children From School
“When they told me my daughter should engage in that restorative justice meeting, I knew my children would not be able to return to school there,” Mendolia said, according to the station's report. She is now suing Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford for negligence, alleging the school failed to conduct a thorough background check on Ricciardi. The school has declined to comment further, citing the pending lawsuit.
Another parent, Michal Barnea, said her daughter also told her Ricciardi had tickled her, and she believed the conduct was inappropriate and needed to stop. Solomon Schechter later learned of an additional concern when Ricciardi returned from leave in December 2024 and placed him on indefinite leave at that point, the station's reporting shows.
The St. Gabriel Complaint That Went Nowhere
The St. Gabriel Complaint That Went Nowhere DCF had received a report concerning Ricciardi and a St. Gabriel student but did not pursue it, according to CT Insider. Jaclyn Scott, whose eight-year-old daughter attended St. Gabriel, has said her daughter complained that Ricciardi tickled and touched her and that it sometimes hurt, and that what began as roughhousing stopped being fun. Scott said she alerted multiple staffers and administrators at the school, and a DCF report later stated the agency had received a report about concerns involving Ricciardi and Scott's daughter at St. Gabriel but did not pursue it, per NBC Connecticut.
The Archdiocese of Hartford, which oversees St. Gabriel, has said student safety and well-being are a top priority and that it maintains robust student-safety policies and procedures. Scott now wants DCF to re-examine her daughter's case.
Bristol Schools Force DCF's Hand
It took a report from outside either school to get DCF to act. Investigative outlet Inside Investigator reported that DCF did not investigate until it received a report from the Bristol Public School system on December 12, 2024, after Bristol's Director of Special Services, Amy Martino, learned why a parent had withdrawn her children from Solomon Schechter and reported the matter to DCF herself. That outlet reported DCF opened a case and referred it to West Hartford police. NBC Connecticut reported separately that DCF accepted the case about 40 minutes after a Bristol school official reported concerns to the agency.
That full DCF investigation did not substantiate allegations of sexual abuse or physical and emotional neglect at that time, but the investigator notified local police, per NBC Connecticut's reporting. West Hartford police arrested Ricciardi in January 2025 and charged him with felony risk of injury to a child and misdemeanor breach of peace.
DCF Reopens the Case, Finds Neglect
Months later, DCF reopened its investigation after receiving information it did not have the first time, and on January 16, 2026, the agency found that Ricciardi had engaged in emotional neglect, CT Insider reported. A DCF report connected to the case also reportedly included redactions and an inadvertently visible note about a child with a similar concern at St. Gabriel School in 2023, according to NBC Connecticut.
Ricciardi ultimately pleaded guilty to three felony counts of risk of injury to a minor and one misdemeanor count of breach of peace, according to The Hartford Courant. A judge fully suspended his five-year sentence and placed him on probation for five years. He can no longer teach in Connecticut, and he declined NBC Connecticut Investigates' request for comment. The outlet has said it is still trying to confirm other possible places Ricciardi worked. Solomon Schechter has told its community that Ricciardi had taught for close to 20 years.
What a Background Check Actually Shows
What a Background Check Actually Shows Mendolia said she now favors laws that would require teaching candidates to disclose their full DCF history to prospective employers.
Child Advocate Sarah Eagan has said a school's preliminary inquiry should be limited to determining whether reasonable suspicion requires an immediate report to DCF and law enforcement — not serve as a stand-in for a full investigation. Connecticut's mandated reporter law requires certain professionals to report suspected abuse or neglect to DCF within 12 hours.
Why One Arrest Didn't Guarantee a Finding of Abuse
Attorney Ken Mysogland has said police and DCF operate under different laws and standards, so an arrest does not necessarily mean DCF will substantiate abuse or neglect, and that a later substantiation does not automatically mean the agency's first investigation was faulty, since decisions are made with the information available at the time. He added that DCF's best practices call for reviewing multiple investigations when a new fact pattern could apply to more than one child. DCF can reopen a case if new information comes to light, as it did here.
The civil lawsuit brought by the parents of a six-year-old girl against Solomon Schechter Day School and its administrators remains pending, alleging the school failed to conduct a proper background check on Ricciardi and protect the child, according to the Courant. That suit seeks more than $15,000 in damages and is expected to go to trial in March 2027.
