Just in time for Halloween, a true and Long Island horror story.

Just in time for Halloween, a true and Long Island horror story.

Imagine you are a highly regarded, 15-year veteran teacher working in a public high school on Long Island. Out of nowhere, a student makes an accusation against you. It is a very insignificant and generic complaint. This is not too scary of a story just yet, but it gets worse in a hurry.

Before this, you have never had a complaint filed by a student or parent. But now, for reasons you cannot understand, the school district decides you are very likely guilty of something. Whatever it is or however insignificant it may be, they consider you a liability and want you gone fast. It now appears the school district doesn’t care about you, or what you’ve done for the school, students, district or community. They just want you to quickly disappear regardless of how your career and reputation are destroyed. How does the school district accomplish this?

To start, you are interrogated by a district-employed investigator who, in this case, is a “Title 9 Officer.” This person has little or no formal training as an investigator. They try to scare you, twist your words, and paint you as potentially dangerous. Lacking solid proof of anything, the investigator tries to get you to admit that you did something that MIGHT be construed as wrong. The same investigator will also question the accusing student. The line of questioning is very different for the student. The student will not be asked if they were mistaken, confused, or if they misinterpreted the situation. They won’t be asked to consider the teacher’s history, professionalism, or the teacher’s positive contributions to the school or students.

Next, the district sends you to a psychiatrist for a ‘mental evaluation’. The law firm that represents the school district against you selects the psychiatrist for the school district. The law firm and the psychiatrist have much previous experience in such disciplinary matters. Keep in mind that the district pays for both the lawyer and psychiatrist. The district instructs the psychiatrist to evaluate the teacher and find the teacher to be “unfit to teach”, claiming the teacher is unsafe to be around children. Your evaluation result is pre-determined by the district. The school district lawyer lends a hand by informing the psychiatrist what they can or can’t do, legally. The psychiatrist (who is a medical doctor and took a Hippocratic oath vowing to “to do no harm”) claims that in their opinion you are in fact unfit to teach. The doctor states that you are suicidal, mentally ill, or dangerous. No formal standardized testing is performed. Your final evaluation is the result of a simple 60-minute interrogative session. The psychiatrist has minimal information about you or the alleged accusations and does not talk to the accusing student or any of your colleagues or supervisors. Your entire 15-year career is reduced to 60 minutes. The district pays between $15,000 to $20,000 for the psychiatrist’s services.

Next, the district hires an arbitrator who conducts a formal hearing, which may run several months and cost them tens of thousands of dollars more. At this point, you may have teachers’ union legal counsel appointed. You quickly realize the union will be little if any help at all. In fact, the union has shown by their actions or lack thereof, they are not interested in spending time or resources to help. The union is ready to sacrifice one of their flock, in order to preserve the peace with the district (teacher contract negotiations and a budget vote are coming soon). By now you are terrified about your career, family, reputation, and life. You are isolated and alone.

Remember, the district paid for the investigator, arbitrator, lawyer (who knows school law better than anyone), and the psychiatrist. The district essentially has hired the detective, judge, witnesses, and executioner. You didn’t stand a chance. This is all 100% true and it happens in nearly every Long Island district.

It’s not uncommon for kids to exaggerate or twist stories or flat out lie. Sometimes, long after the fact, they admit as such. Too late, you’ve already been put through the ringer. Your career is destroyed and the district won’t be involved anymore. The district, and you the taxpayer paid dearly to destroy the teacher’s career.

Why is the public ignorant of such stories? Three important reasons: first there was no criminality alleged, second the school district does not want the public to know how much money they wasted, and third the district does not want the public to know about how a fantastic teacher was removed from the classroom for no reason. You see, it really is NOT about the kids after all.