April 06, 2020

Educator disciplined for violating school policy


The arbitrator's decision has a rational basis and is supported by the evidence (see Lackow v Department of Educ. [or "Board"] of City of N.Y., 51 AD3d 563, 567-568 [1st Dept 2008]). The record shows that the arbitrator reasonably determined that petitioner was guilty of misconduct when he locked a 10-year old student out of the classroom and left him unsupervised in the hallway. Even if petitioner was justified in removing the student from the classroom, his actions in locking the boy out of the room, in a state of distress, and leaving him in the hallway without adequate supervision violated school policy (see Matter of Asch v New York City Bd./Dept. of Educ., 104 AD3d 415, 419-420 [1st Dept 2013]).

The penalty of a 15-day suspension from employment does not shock our sense of fairness (see Matter of Ghastin v New York City Dept. of Educ., 169 AD3d 507, 508 [1st Dept 2019]).

The decision is posted on the Internet at: