The Massachusetts Board of Registration of Social Workers is now investigating Shelby Hewitt, the Department of Public Health confirmed. Students and parents say they feel betrayed and unsafe.
City leaders in Boston were expected to discuss the case involving a 32-year-old woman accused of posing as a student and attending three different high schools in the city.
Shelby Hewitt is facing multiple charges, including identity fraud and forgery.
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Hewitt is a former Massachusetts Department of Children and Families worker accused of faking paperwork and passing herself off as a teenager to attend three Boston Public High Schools – Jeremiah Burke, Brighton and English.
Hewitt has had an active social worker license, but the state Board of Registration of Social Workers is now investigating her, the Department of Public Health confirmed Wednesday.
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According to the criminal complaint, the alleged fraud was exposed on June 14 when a man came to English High, claiming he was withdrawing his daughter over bullying, and the school discovered an error in her paperwork and notified police.
Students and parents said the revelation that an adult was attending classes among them has been a shock.
Thirteen-year-old Shaila Wharton was coming back from a field trip when her teacher pulled her aside and told her investigators had some questions for her about a new girl called Ellie. Her answer:
“She had walked out of school because she was upset about everybody bullying her say she got a man face or something," Shaila said.
Over at Jeremiah Burke High School, kids knew her as Daniella. Hewitt attended Brighton, English and Jeremiah Burke before she was discovered.
“She shouldn't have been able to falsify documents that got through to the school department," Shaila's mother Venetta Wharton said. “This needs to be brought all the way to the top. And we need to figure out what's going on.”
Investigators searched an apartment in Jamaica Plain last week, allegedly uncovering documents that had been submitted to juvenile court and DCF, apparently used to enroll Hewitt into the schools under two different names.
One neighbor, who didn’t want to be identified, said it was a shock when police showed up at their apartment building apparently collecting evidence against Hewitt.
“I need to know more about what’s going on and if there’s human trafficking in my building, yeah I’m very concerned," the neighbor said. "I don’t understand the connection between her posing as a student in school and human trafficking, I don’t get – I don’t know what that connection is.”
City councilor Erin Murphy was expected on Wednesday to offer an order for a hearing to discuss concerns about the woman enrolling in Boston schools. City council meetings are held at noontime.
