{"id":6,"date":"2012-06-04T17:01:34","date_gmt":"2012-06-04T21:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/attorneyforteachers.com\/?p=6"},"modified":"2012-06-04T17:01:34","modified_gmt":"2012-06-04T21:01:34","slug":"the-court-found-that-a-hearing-officers-decision-of-suspension-was-fair-against-tenured-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/attorneyforteachers.com\/?p=6","title":{"rendered":"The Court Found That a Hearing Officer’s Decision of Suspension was Fair against Tenured Teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Court Found That a Hearing Officer’s Decision of Suspension was Fair against Tenured Teacher<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

The DOE, Petitioner, started an Article 75 proceeding that sought to vacate an arbitration award made after a disciplinary hearing against Respondent, a twenty-three year tenured teacher.<\/p>\n

Respondent encountered with a female student where he \u201cinappropriately touched her bare shoulders and neck and made sexually charged comments to her.\u201d After trial, Respondent was acquitted of Endangering the Welfare of a Child.<\/p>\n

The Hearing Officer found that Respondent was \u201cculpable of some of the DOE charges leveled against him\u201d but that the DOE failed to prove other charges.\u00a0\u00a0Therefore, directed that Respondent be suspended for one half year without pay and then be permitted to return to work as a classroom teacher.<\/p>\n

The Hearing Officer found that Respondent was engaged in a \u201csexually charged banter with an introverted student\u201d and was not soliciting sex.\u00a0\u00a0The Hearing Officer stated that \u201cthere are situations where a single incident could require termination, however, this was not one of them.\u201d Additionally, \u201cany repeat behavior of the type for which he was charged will lead to termination.\u201d<\/p>\n

DOE commenced these proceedings seeking to vacate the penalty \u201con the ground that the penalty was grossly inadequate, inconsistent with the hearing officer\u2019s findings, and in violation of public policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Court found that the evidence presented \u201cdid not demonstrate a continued pattern of offensive behavior that reflects inability to understand the necessary separation between a teacher and his students.\u201d \u201cThe ultimate penalty of dismissal is reserved for those situations involving the most egregious conduct, where no measure of alternative deterrence would be effective.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The Hearing Officer analyzed the facts and circumstances and concluded that they did not warrant the penalty of dismissal.\u00a0\u00a0The Court found that the penalty imposed \u201cwas not so disproportionate to the offense to be shocking to one\u2019s sense of fairness.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The petition was denied and the arbitration award confirmed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

http:\/\/decisions.courts.state.ny.us\/fcas\/fcas_docs\/2012MAR\/3004001082011001SCIV.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TAGS:\u00a0Department of Education<\/a>,\u00a0Teacher Issues<\/a>,\u00a0arbitration award<\/a>,\u00a0disciplinary hearing<\/a>,probation<\/a>,\u00a0teacher<\/a>,\u00a0tenure<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Court Found That a Hearing Officer’s Decision of Suspension was Fair against Tenured Teacher   The DOE, Petitioner, started an Article 75 proceeding that sought to vacate an arbitration award made after a disciplinary hearing against Respondent, a twenty-three Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4byM9-6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/attorneyforteachers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/attorneyforteachers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/attorneyforteachers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/attorneyforteachers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/attorneyforteachers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/attorneyforteachers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7,"href":"http:\/\/attorneyforteachers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/attorneyforteachers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/attorneyforteachers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/attorneyforteachers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}