A Brooklyn high school teacher at the High School for Civil Rights with an unblemished disciplinary record, was terminated by a State arbitrator when he was charged with corporal punishment and conduct unbecoming a teacher by the DOE. The teacher named Shawn Browne tried to remove an unruly student from his Math class and the confrontation escalated to the point that the misbehaving student, who was playing cards instead of working in his Math class, was told to leave the classroom and refused to do so. The student then throw a stapler and a towel at the teacher and, in response, the teacher tried to push the student out of the room. According to the student and a school safety agent, the teacher allegedly punched the student twice in the face while trying to remove the student from the classroom. The teacher denied punching the student and was backed up by other students in the classroom. However, the arbitrator, Dean Burrell, chose to believe the student and school safety officer and ignored the other witnesses and the teacher and terminated the teacher.
The arbitrator did not take into account the 15 year unblemished disciplinary record of Mr. Browne or the circumstances that lead to the incident. Consequently, the arbitrator claimed that the teacher's conduct cannot be remediated.. Therefore, the arbitrators award of termination.
The teacher appealed his termination to Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge, Alexander Tisch, who ruled that the arbitrator's award "shocked the conscious" and sent it back to the arbitrator for a lesser penalty. According to Justice Tisch the arbitrator failed to take into account the teacher's unblemished disciplinary record, the circumstances that lead up to the altercation, and the lack of a co-teacher in a co-teaching class, a violation of State regulations when dealing with students with an IEP. Moreover, Mr. Tisch found that an anger management course for Mr. Browne is a proper remediation for the teacher for the one time incident, along with a penalty short of termination.
Naturally, the DOE will appeal the decision to a higher State court.
Why does it matter that this teacher was a 15year veteran? Would it be ok to fire an untenured teacher who was protecting himself from a violent student? Did this teacher use a NYSUT lawyer? Did the UFT help in his appeal? Did his principal have his back? This is EXACTLY the kind of nightmare that every teacher faces in NYC schools. It does not matter that you may have been teaching for 1, 5, 15, or 27 years, This kind of bullshit can happen to any of us.
ReplyDeleteThe "arbitrator" should be fired now for trying to destroy the livlihood of a person clearly not at fault. I would also love to know if this "arbitrator" was a teacher before in the classroom because if he was he would have never ruled the way he did. Sad.
ReplyDeleteIf the student threw a stapler, why wasn't he charged by the POLICE with assault? Staplers are generally made of steel and, hurtled through a distance, could really cause physical injury if they struck the face of a person.
ReplyDeleteIt's very rare for the teacher's students to take the part of the teacher these days and back them up against another student. That kid must have been a real piece of work and ticked off some of his fellow students. I'm glad there is one judge who showed common sense in this all-too-common-these-days teacher scenario.
That’s why teacher’s don’t do anything when they are assaulted and harassed. Damned if you do damned if you don’t. If you just let the kids play cards and AP comes you are written up. If you try to teach and get the kid removed you are terminated. This is the kind of shit that the Uft should be all over. This is the kind of thing that I would go outside and march against, but the UFT does nothing. We are on our own.
ReplyDeletethe schools safety losers should be fired too except they have better representation then the teacher!
ReplyDeleteThe UFT are gutless slobs who hide out at 52 Broadway. You will not hear anything significant from them until the next round of contract talks happen. I've been around over twenty years and this much I know is true
ReplyDeleteThe reason that this happens is because you have a uft president who does not teach. He sits on his big fat ass all day and does nothing.
ReplyDeleteThis is the price of 3020A Arbitration. The arbitrator will always lean towards findng the respondent guilty of something, because his /her $2,000/day fee is paid half by the DOE, and Half by the UFT. Dean Burrel (I know him personally) is generally fair, but sometimes he gets sooooo pissy!
ReplyDeleteThe system is rigged, and the UFT is uselee.
ReplyDeleteI was threatened by a student who had threatened five other teachers that year, and after weeks of trying to lawyer up with a children's advocate to no avail, the student pleaded no contest. At HIS suspension hearing, where his previous threats and disciplinary record were not allowed to be mentioned, I was investigated for supposedly provoking him, by asking him to get up off the floor and do some work. My student witness backed me up to the fullest, and it ended right there. This was not a 3020a, but my UFT rep. was a no-show at the hearing, and the Rubber Room was one flight up from where the hearing was held. Be careful out there!
ReplyDeleteHappily retired now!
@10:12 - That's not entirely correct. While it's true that the arbitrators are selected jointly by the UFT and DOE, their salaries are paid by the State Education Department.
ReplyDeleteThey are biased and the system is rigged, and our Union should be ashamed.
DeleteSome teachers have not gotten the 'social justice' message: stop trying to enforce patriarchal, white supremacist Western standards on non-Western people.
ReplyDeleteThe whole 'culturally competent' mumbo jumbo thing translates as: ignore their yelling, shouting and misbehavior because that's just their culture, and you have no right to change them (or fail them for doing no work).
DOE employees! Get the memo. It is a new world now.
So, is there a rotation? Have no idea why so many of these high schools are still open? Guess it's out of style to close high schools. Compare the school I was excessed from due to closure with what is out there, and the students are not any better. What is going on? Yet, during a phase of closures senior staff were stripped from their positions.
ReplyDelete7:56 No Truer Words Have Ever Been Spoken. Well said
ReplyDeleteToo many teachers are being accused of wrongdoing when we know is blatant age discrimination.
ReplyDeleteI am an ATR. Several years ago I was covering an english class. I am not an english teacher. A lesson was left on the desk. I gave the lesson out and attempted to help the students. Sudedenly I had chalk being thrown at me. I ignored it and continued to help those who wanted help. I was not going to mention this incident to anyone. The next day the principal held a meeting. He said if anyone is having a problem they can speak with him. I decided to approach him and tell him what had occured. He then turned to me and said "Well if you didnt disrespect them they would not be throwing things at you" I was left speechless. Before I entered the classroom I had never seen these students. Later I checked on this principal. I was told that this principal will always side with the students. In fact this principal had given the most U ratings of any teacher in Queens. The principals name was Jose Cruz. He has since retired.
ReplyDeleteJose Cruz was one of Juan Mendez's favorite and he was death to teachers. especially ATRs.
ReplyDeleteA few yrs back at a mandated atr interview he offered me a job and I respectfuIly refused. He said in a forceful tone he could force me to work in his school. I calmly told him why would you want to force anyone to work for you, what kind of environment does that create He looked at me and said I’ll hire someone else. I walked out thankful I escaped.
ReplyDeleteI’m so thrilled this arbitrator, who is unethical had his decision overturned. The position of fair and impartial assessment is what an arbitrator is entrusted to do. Dean Burrell can’t do the job. I encourage teachers to write a complaint letter to have him removed. Additionally, a wonderful principal I had who was replaced by a destructive one who fired half the school, recommended teachers air these egregious, unfair practices with officials outside the DOE. No one ever, ever, hears us! However, I am compiling a list and right now have two names on it. One is Chris Smith, the NJ Congressman who has an exemplary record of fighting human rights violation around the world. May be he can hear us across the Hudson River. Another is Jay Mathews, the education columnist for the Washington Post who followed the outrageous Rafe Esquith story. He was a great advocate of this outstanding teacher dragged through the mud by the Los Angeles School District. LA replicates the DOE in its lawlessness. I am filing a State OEO and Human Rights complaint soon and although I know it’s a weak push back as I await my second 3020 but I hope to send a copy of the complaint to these two in hopes of being heard. One of my hero’s is Cesar Chavez and it took him five years to be heard. We have to believe the arc of justice in the universe bends toward truth as MLK promoted. I’m two years from retirement but if I am still standing then I am still winning. I have the deepest gratitude to all the teachers across the City whose ethical standards, intelligence, insights, and heart have informed my own struggle standing up to the evil perpetrated by the DOE simply to keep money at the top. They ruin lives of teachers and their famalies with callous irreguard for the human/civil rights of others. It’s our duty to fight them.
ReplyDeleteGodspeed "unknown". I love your post and hope that you are successful in both your outreach efforts and your 3020a.
DeleteThis is why schools are out off control. Carmen Farina and Deblasio took the system back 20 years which was the last time there was a murder in a school. Let the students run wild.
ReplyDelete"The principals name was Jose Cruz. He has since retired."
ReplyDeleteHe retired? My god, these are the happiest two sentences I have read in my life. My first year was under him when he was an AP. He proceeded to make my life a living Hell. I've never hated anyone more than him.
Fuck him. I hope he gets cancer and rots in Hell.