Know your rights

Disciplinary action and false accusations

Feb 14, 2008 10:17 AM

State education law (Section 3020-a) provides for the discipline or termination of a tenured teacher for specific charges, such as incompetence, insubordination, corporal punishment or sexual misconduct. Despite many attempts to undercut it, state law also requires due process so that educators who have completed their probationary period cannot be terminated or disciplined unfairly.

If your principal tells you that you are being brought up on any of those charges, inform your chapter leader immediately so the union can provide you with legal representation at the 3020a hearing. If the charges are sustained, the discipline may range from fines to suspensions to the loss of your job or even your teaching license.

In some cases, teachers awaiting such charges are removed from their schools and assigned to Temporary Reassignment Centers until their cases are adjudicated in a 3020a proceeding. In that case, you must be formally charged within six months or returned to your school. You are paid during this time unless you have been charged with sexual misconduct with a student or minor; a felony involving firearms, drugs, or your job; or any crime involving physical abuse of a student or minor. If you are charged with any of these crimes, the Department of Education can ask for a probable-cause hearing to decide whether or not you can be suspended without pay for up to two months.

Bring a union rep to any interrogation

If you are summoned for an interview for the record that may lead to disciplinary action, you are entitled to be accompanied to the hearing by a union representative (or a representative employed by the school system). An interview that is not held in accordance with these procedures cannot be made part of your personnel or school file, and any statements you make at such an interview cannot be used against you in any DOE proceeding.

Regardless of which office has summoned you to appear, you should not answer any questions without representation. If you are summoned to either the principal’s office or the district superintendent’s office, you should immediately ask your chapter leader and UFT district representative for assistance. If you are summoned to the DOE’s Office of Appeals and Review or the Office of Special Investigations, your UFT borough office will provide a representative to attend the hearing with you. If you are summoned by the special commissioner of investigations, you should not answer any questions unless you are accompanied by an attorney, which your UFT borough office will help arrange for you. The allegations investigated there involve criminal activity, financial fraud and other serious matters.

Corporal punishment

City laws and Chancellor’s Regulation A-420 prohibit the use of physical force against students. While corporal punishment rarely occurs, some staffers have been charged with that offense for having physical contact with a student, such as when breaking up a fight. In general, you should attempt to defuse a student altercation by using verbal, rather than physical, means. However, you may use physical force in self-defense or to protect a person or school property. If you are accused of corporal punishment, speak with your chapter leader immediately and ask for union help.

Supervisors are required to immediately report all allegations of corporal punishment to the DOE. In most instances, they will be instructed to investigate the allegation. We strongly recommend that you do not speak to the principal and/or any investigator without a union representative present, even if the allegation is false. If the allegation is sustained, you could be terminated or reassigned to another school or site.

False accusations

In another recently won right, if you are accused of sexual misconduct or physical abuse involving students and it is determined that the allegations were knowingly false when they were made, the DOE will remove all references to the allegations from your personnel file, restore any lost pay with interest, and permanently reassign the student from your class absent compelling and extraordinary circumstances.

State law and chancellor’s regulations prohibit verbal abuse of students, which includes using language that causes fear or physical or mental distress; using language that denotes race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability or sexual orientation which tends to cause fear or mental distress; threatening physical harm; or belittling or ridiculing students.

If you are accused of verbal abuse, you should immediately notify your chapter leader. Consult Chancellor’s Regulation A-421 for additional information. Among other things, the regulation requires your principal to inform the staff about what constitutes verbal abuse. If accusations of verbal abuse are found to be unsubstantiated, all references to the accusations will be removed from your file.