Created: 5/18/2009 4:00:08 PM 
ATLANTA, GA -- There's outrage over the story of an 11-year-old boy with Autism. A judge said the boy was injured at school by an adult.
The reaction received after the story aired Monday night in Atlanta has been unprecedented. People are demanding answers from the system that educated 11-year-old Stefan Ferrari.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Metro North officials announced they had removed Stefan Ferrari's teacher from the classroom.
Sherri Jones admitted in a courtroom to talking about sex and drinking in front of the children. Judge John Gatto, a judge with the Office of State Administrative Hearings, found that Stefan was physically abused by an adult at his school last October.
Stefan, an Atlanta Public Schools student, attended the facility in DeKalb County that is run by Metro North, a state agency. After coming home with unexplained injuries, Stefan's mother sewed a microphone into his shirt and sent him to school on October 21.
On the same day that Jones was removed, Atlanta school officials, who refused to comment on the story for almost two months, were ready to talk.
"I'm angry, horrified and disgusted about what happened to the young man at North Metro," said Atlanta Public School deputy superintendent Kathy Augustine. I know he and his family have been treated badly." 
The Ferraris say their son was treated badly, not only at school, but by the school system in which he was a student.
"Stefan was at that facility as an Atlanta Public School student, was he not?" asked Watson.
"He was referred by the Atlanta Public Schools to have his education experience in that facility," said Augustine.
Stefan's parents call his experience a nightmare. The eight hours worth of audio captured in the classroom devastated Marcelo and Carolyn Ferrari.
"It was horrifying," Carolyn said. "I was visibly sick. I felt like I was going to vomit."
Carolyn and Marcelo listened for hours to what they called the neglect, ridicule and abuse of their son.
The microphone picked up the sounds in the room around Stefan. On the tape, the voices talked about the size of a boyfriend's genitals.
"The man I'm dating is intelligent. But he has a small penis. You can't throw a pebble into the ocean. Does it matter? Does size matter? Yes, it does."
The adults talked about drinking on the tape.
"Russian vodka with olive juice. That's a dirty martini?"
At one point in the day, Stefan ate some pizza out of the trash can. The adults joked about it.
"I mean he was chill. Finger lickin' good. He was chillin' with that."
But what the Ferraris heard that horrified them was this:
"You want a be-quiet hit?" (followed by the sound of a thump) "There you go. Get now, go on."
And two minutes later, listen as an adult tells others to leave.
"Please make him be quiet. Go away. Go. Take a minute. Go. Go on."
And 15 seconds later, there were 18 seconds of thumps and the sounds of Stefan making noises. 
"It was numbing, and yet at the same time, you can't stop listening to it, because you're thinking, 'oh my God, if my child went through this, I need to hear what happened to my child'," Carolyn said.
"Were APS officials aware of the story before it aired last night?" Watson asked Augustine.
"I saw it last night and was outraged. Dr. Hall saw it and was outraged. There are some members of Atlanta Public Schools who knew of the case, but we heard the audio on WXIA last night," said Augustine.
Our sister station WXIA has documentation showing Atlanta Public Schools was alerted months before the story aired.
Atlanta school employees exchanged e-mails with the Ferraris on October 15, 22, and 23 -- the days just before and after Stefan was injured.
11Alive News has a copy of a legal complaint that was served to Atlanta Superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall on January 14. 11Alive News also has the notes from a meeting Atlanta school employees were at with the Ferraris and Metro North officials on November 12 -- three weeks after Stefan was injured.
"At that meeting, it says all participants agree that placement at Metro North is appropriate," said Watson. "And then his parents were served with a paper notifying they would be charged with truancy because they did not send Stefan back to Metro North after he was injured. Do you know about that?"
"No, I have no knowledge of that," answered Augustine.
The Ferraris sued Atlanta schools, and at the end of the week-long hearing, teacher Sherri Jones took the stand. The Ferraris' attorney, John Zimring, asked Jones if she was the one talking about a man's genitals.
"I can't recall if I said it or not," Jones said in the hearing.
If she was the one talking about drinking.
"I may have," she said.
If she was one of the people joking about Stefan eating out of the trash.
"I don't recall saying that," Jones replied.
But after Jones is made again and again to listen to the audio, her answers changed.
"And that was your voice?" Zimring asked.
"Yes, it was," Jones answered.
"So you did say that?" Zimring asked.
"It came out of my mouth, yes," Jones replied.
"You said that did you not?" Zimring asked.
"Most likely, yeah," said Jones.
"It was you wasn't it?" Zimring asked.
"Umm, that could have been what I said, yeah," Jones admitted.
Jones denies ever hitting or threatening to hit Stefan -- and Judge John Bello did not find that she did. His decision stated only that Stefan was injured at school by an adult.
"That is your voice is it not?" Zimring asked when the voice on the tape referred to striking Stefan.
"No, it's not," Jones said.
"Whose was it?" Zimring pressed on.
"I don't know," Jones said.
"You are under testimony to his honor!" Zimring said.
"I do not know whose voice is on that tape," Jones said. "It is not me."
"Those teachers are not Atlanta Public School teachers," said Augustine. "That program is not an Atlanta Public School."
"Doesn't the Atlanta Public Schools have a responsibility to make sure the programs they're referring students to are safe? Not only that they're educated, but not injured?" Watson asked.
"Yes, and that's why, in our demands, we expect them to be immediate," said Augustine.
"Do you understand the outrage?" Watson said.
"Of course I do, and I share the outrage," replied Augustine.
