Appellate court finds two termination penalties appropriate

On Board Online • June 10, 2013

By Pilar Sokol
Deputy General Counsel

In two separate appeals, the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court,  First Department, recently was asked to rule that termination penalties imposed against two New York City teachers were inappropriate because they shocked one’s sense of fairness. In both cases, the court decided otherwise.

In the first case, In re Matter of Diana Haas v. N.Y. City Dept. of Educ., a teacher had been found guilty of charges that she had pulled a chair out from underneath a kindergarten student, kicked him while he was on the floor, and directed other students who had witnessed the incident to not tell anyone what they had seen. The First Department found the teacher’s termination appropriate in light of the egregiousness of her misconduct and her lack of remorse for her actions.

In the second case, In re Bernadette Camacho v. City of New York, a teacher had been found guilty of verbally abusing students. Pursuant to a settlement of prior disciplinary charges, the teacher had agreed that if she was found guilty of such charges following a hearing, she would be terminated. The teacher did not dispute that her agreement to those terms had been knowing and voluntary. Therefore, the court said, she was bound by the penalty. In addition, termination was appropriate because of the teacher’s failure to comply with other terms of the prior stipulation that required her to take medication and receive therapy to control emotional outbursts directed at special education students.