Parsippany School Board Pushed Out Teacher With Work-Induced PTSD, Lawsuit Claims

PARSIPPANY, NJ — A former Parsippany teacher sued the school board and several district administrators, claiming they pushed her out of the job because of accommodations required for her work-induced disability. The former Parsippany-Troy Hills Township School District employee developed post-traumatic stress disorder after school leadership failed to develop a plan to assist her with students who risked harming themselves or others, the lawsuit claims.

The plaintiff taught at Lake Hiawatha Elementary School from 2011-20, becoming a tenured faculty member in 2014, according to the complaint filed Jan. 7. Defendants include the Board of Education, then-Lake Hiawatha Elementary School Principal Angelina Finnegan, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Robert S. Sutter and district Human Resources Manager Jeanne Gladis.

Patch is not publishing the teacher's name because of the sensitivity of the allegations.

The teacher was diagnosed with PTSD because of work-related stress and anxiety, according to the lawsuit. She ultimately couldn't keep up with the costs necessary to obtain medical leave, the complaint claims. The school board approved unpaid leave and tenure charges for the teacher in 2020, and she resigned in October of that year because of her disabilities, the lawsuit says.

Kate Gilfillan, the school board's attorney, told Patch that the district doesn't comment on ongoing litigation.

A Difficult School Year

At the beginning of the 2017-18 school year, the school's guidance counselor and child study team notified the teacher she would have a "particularly difficult set of students," according to the lawsuit. The administration warned her about one student in particular, who had "significant behavior issues and ... would need additional monitoring of and supervision from" the teacher, the complaint says.

Several weeks into the school year, Finnegan requested a status meeting regarding the student, the lawsuit says. Because the student's behavioral episodes became more frequent and serious, the teacher requested that the administration implement an explicit plan in case the student presented physical or violent threats toward himself or others, according to court documents.

The teacher suggested coming up with a code word she could broadcast over the school phone system if she needed immediate help. But Finnegan said it wasn't necessary and refused to implement any plan, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiff missed work for a couple of weeks in October because of a car accident, the complaint says. During her time out, the principal and guidance counselor needed to intervene to help the substitute with the difficult student experiencing behavioral issues, according to the lawsuit.

During that school year, the student threatened to harm himself and others, stole from the school holiday shop and other students, and required in-patient psychiatric care multiple times before returning to school, the lawsuit says.

Two other students transferred to the plaintiff's classroom that year — one who got expelled from his former school for threatening other students and one who the other grade-level teacher couldn't handle and refused to keep in her class, according to the complaint.

One of the students continually harassed students, at one point threatening to drown another student in his own blood, the lawsuit says. Despite this knowledge, the administration failed to file a Harassment, Intimidation & Bullying report, according to court documents.

Finnegan continued to expect the teacher to take full responsibility for the troubled students, even if it meant spending most of her lunch period and prep times sitting with one who refused to leave the classroom, the lawsuit says. This violated an article under the educators union's contract, which states that “Teaching Hours and Teaching load shall not exceed 5.5 hours of pupil contact time," according to the complaint.

Diagnosis and Treatment

The teacher was diagnosed with PTSD "as a result of decisions and/or inaction" from school officials, the lawsuit claims. A licensed social worker began treating her for PTSD in summer 2018, and she requested medical leave, according to court documents.

A mental health expert reported that the teacher had "severe anxiety and mood symptoms due to work stressors" and "would be incapacitated from 8-30-18 to 6-30-19," the lawsuit says. The expert recommended the plaintiff take medical leave for the 2018-19 school year, according to the complaint.

Sutter acknowledged the teacher's request for medical leave in September, and the school board provided her with leave through only Nov. 26, 2018, the lawsuit claims.

The plaintiff paused her weekly psychotherapist meetings for two weeks because her health insurance expired, according to the lawsuit. But a doctor noted that she planned to get on her husband's health insurance mid-December of 2018, which was "very expensive" and would require taking her son out of daycare to afford it, the complaint says.

But a day after the teacher's meeting with that doctor, Sutter already began considering the option of filing tenure charges against her, the lawsuit claims.

In July 2019, Sutter claimed he didn't have any reports of the teacher seeing doctors from December 2018 through June 2019, according to the complaint. In November 2018, the teacher provided the school board with a 12-month authorization to release medical information, the lawsuit claims. While the board or Sutter could have demanded the names and addresses of any treating physician, they did nothing during that time, according to the complaint.

The plaintiff discontinued treatment and stopped taking her medication in April 2019 because of continued financial hardships, according to the lawsuit. During a meeting with Sutter the following September, the administrator criticized the teacher for "neither (undergoing) the required therapy nor ... appris(ing) the District of (her) progress," the complaint says.

Tenure Charges

Sutter brought up the school board's option to pursue tenure charges on the basis of incapacity and unbecoming conduct, according to the lawsuit. The teacher told Sutter that she was still experiencing financial difficulties, and she was seeking other mental health providers after hers relocated, court documents state.

Sutter informed the teacher he would recommend the board place her on unpaid administrative leave, the lawsuit claims. He told the plaintiff in January 2020 that the board would file tenure charges if she didn't resign, according to the complaint.

The teacher demanded that her attorney be present for the meeting so she could better understand the process, but Sutter denied her request, according to the lawsuit.

The plaintiff later discovered that the school board approved her unpaid leave three days earlier, which would remain in effect for the rest of the 2019-20 school year, the complaint claims. She was notified of the board's decision in a letter received days later, according to the lawsuit.

The school board's counsel retained a doctor to evaluate the teacher for her pending worker's compensation case, the lawsuit says. Around Jan. 20, 2020, Dr. William B. Head, Jr. diagnosed the teacher with work-related PTSD, saying she was "temporarily disabled from teaching, but should try to return to work in the spring of 2020," according to the complaint.

Head recommended the teacher receive 12 weeks of psychotherapy and then return to him for a re-evaluation. But the school board only approved her for six weeks of treatment and never paid for her re-evaluation that could've cleared her for work, the lawsuit says.

In June 2020, Sutter notified the teacher that the board would move forward with formal tenure charges against her, according to the lawsuit. She resigned in October 2020.

The lawsuit — filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey in Morristown — accuses the defendants of disability discrimination, negligent supervision and training, a hostile work environment and several other counts. The plaintiff demanded a jury trial and seeks unspecified damages.

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