Daniel Smith, a highly regarded girl's softball coach in the Bronx, is suing the New York City Department of Education in federal court, claiming he's been reassigned to a so-called "rubber room" in retaliation for exercising free speech -- speaking out about the lack of funding for girl's sports. He's been hit with allegations of sexual harassment by a female student, which he says officials have not fully investigated and are untrue.
New York, NY (PRWEB) November 16, 2009 -- Daniel Smith, the outspoken former Dewitt Clinton High School girls softball coach and Bronx high school gym teacher, is suing the New York City Department of Education to get out of one of the city’s infamous “rubber rooms.” Smith claims he’s been assigned to the rubber room for speaking out against school officials.
“The New York City Department of Education, despite clear evidence that Dan Smith was not guilty of improper conduct assigned him to the rubber room and delayed proffering charges against him for an entire school year,” said his attorney, Lenard Leeds of the Carle Place law firm Leeds Morelli & Brown PC, specialists in employment law. “He’s been harassed and disciplined in retaliation for exercising free speech.”
The suit seeks an injunction against the school system, unspecified financial damages for lost income and punitive damages for the humiliation and physical and emotional damages that Smith alleges he has suffered. A jury trial has been requested.
“Dan was charged with the unfounded sexual harassment allegations levied against him by a student who was absent on the day she claims to have been harassed, with coaching a team on a day in which he utilized sick time for a doctor’s appointment, and for receiving an unsatisfactory rating from his supervisor,” Smith’s lawyers claim in the suit filed Nov. 6 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Index No. 09 CV 9256). “These charges were pretext in retaliation for speaking out about a matter of public concern,” the complaint stated.
In the lawsuit, Smith claims he was placed in the rubber room, or reassignment center, in retaliation for talking out about racial and regional bias in the Public School Athletic League’s football program and because of his vocal efforts to get money for the under funded Clinton girls softball team. Until their cases are resolved, which can take years, teachers, who receive their full salaries, are required to spend the 181 days of the school year in the spartan rubber room.
Smith, who was assigned to the “rubber room’” or reassignment center in 2007 after he was accused of sexual harassment by a student, is one of hundreds of Department of Education employees who have been accused of wrongdoing -- ranging from buying a plant for a school against the principal's wishes to inappropriately touching a student -- and who do absolutely no work. The complaint against Smith is subject to an internal review by the Department of Education.
Also named in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York are various school administrators at Clinton and Grace Dodge High School.
Smith, who has worked in the city schools since 1985, says in his suit he’s being punished for speaking out about racism and economic bias in the Public Schools Athletic League, and because of his attempts to get funding for his softball team, Smith formerly was also a football coach
Smith’s suit alleges that school officials have harassed him since 1999 and that the harassment peaked in 2001-2002, when he received an unsatisfactory rating for his teaching. The rating eventually was removed. The former coach says further retaliation was the result of publication in 2008 of a story in the New York Daily News about the budget disparities that he complained about.
In March 2007, Smith claims, a student made an allegation of sexual harassment--on a day the student was absent from his class. An investigation, he claims was not launched until a month later, after an article entitled “Grudge Match” appeared in the Daily News mentioning Smith in his capacity as a softball coach for speaking out about the lack of equipment provided to the girls’ softball program at Clinton. Smith alleges that school officials made no effort to interview a faculty eyewitness to the alleged event. In August 2007, Smith learned he had been assigned to the “rubber room” as a result of the student’s allegations and because he coached on a day when he was absent from his teaching job. No other students among the almost 100 in the class at the time were interviewed, except for a friend of Smith’s accuser.
“Reassignment to the rubber room has left Dan ineligible to coach within the Department of Education system, in turn costing him income he regularly earned by coaching in years prior,” he claims in his suit. Formal charges against him were not filed until May 2008, a month after a second Daily News story was published.
The case has been assigned to Judge Denise L. Cote.
About Leeds Morelli & Brown, PC
Based in Carle Place, N.Y., Leeds Morelli & Brown, PC is a New York City area law firm dedicated to providing the highest quality guidance and representation to clients with concerns involving a broad range of legal practice areas. Over the last two decades, the firm’s attorneys have become widely known and respected -- both in New York and across the U.S. -- for their ability to litigate complex legal issues effectively, and for the outstanding results our firm has achieved, particularly in the areas of employment law, civil rights, discrimination and sexual harassment. For more information call 1-888-5-JOBLAW or visit www.lmblaw.com.
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