The attorney for the parents of an 8-year-old boy whose teacher allegedly posted his misbehavior in class on social media has filed legal documents that are a precursor to a lawsuit with the Norwalk town clerk's office.

Jeff Forte, the attorney for parents William Hornyak and Mary Ann Choeun, filed a statutory notice of claim and a preservation of evidence order with the town clerk Wednesday. The notice of claim is required to be filed for claims against a municipality. It preserves the right to sue within six months of the incident. The boy was allegedly videotaped on Jan. 18.

Forte, founder of the Shelton-based Forte Law Group, told the Connecticut Law Tribune that the preservation of evidence order was filed so the town doesn't destroy or delete the videotape. The lawsuit will allege violation of civil rights and invasion of privacy, Forte said.

According to Forte, Jefferson Science Magnet School teacher Meredith Sanchez was alone with the boy in class when he began to misbehave.

“The child is being video recorded while he is agitated and upset. He was having behavioral episodes,” Forte said. “Rather than coming to his aid and calming his meltdown, she stands there and records him.”

It's not clear if Sanchez is still a teacher at the school. The Norwalk schools are on spring break this week.

Principal Nicholas Brophy did not respond to a request for comment. Sanchez has an unlisted Norwalk telephone number and could not be reached.

The town's deputy corporation counsel, Jeffry Spahr, told the Connecticut Law Tribune Thursday, “We are in the process of investigating the claim. Our efforts are a bit hampered because the schools are on spring break. We will address the claims after we have conducted a full investigation.”

Mary Yordon, president of the Norwalk Federation of Teachers, the local union for Norwalk public school teachers. declined to comment on the matter. And Norwalk Superintendent of Schools Steven Adamowski did not respond to a request for comment.

Forte says the boy's parents “are embarrassed by all of this.”

“They are very upset,” he said. “No one presumes you drop your child off at school only to be told by friends that they've seen him in a video.”

Forte said the town school board's handbook has a policy prohibiting the distribution of demeaning images of students, and that this incident falls into that category. He added he hasn't seen the video yet, but that the act of posting it to social media is “an invasion of privacy.”

“There is a lot of emotional damage, pain and suffering here,” Forte said. “This is an infringement on this child's civil rights. It's reprehensible and unacceptable.”

Forte said when a lawsuit is filed, he will be seeking an undetermined amount of financial damages for the family, and added he was not sure if Sanchez was ever disciplined for her alleged actions.

Forte said, “We are currently reaching out to other state agencies to inquire about this teacher and whether or not she has been disciplined.”