Court Opinion

ID: 9800359
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 08:12:25.171897+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:42:36.672785
License: Public Domain

Tom, J.R, and Sweeny, J.,
dissent in a memorandum by Sweeny, J., as follows: The majority agrees that the Hearing Of*420fleer’s determination that petitioner was guilty of the seven specified charges spanning a three-year period, was supported by adequate evidence (see Lackow v Department of Educ. [or “Board”] of City of N.Y., 51 AD3d 563, 567 [1st Dept 2008]). However, because they find that the Hearing Officer’s recommendation of termination as a penalty for those offenses is disproportionate and remand for consideration of a lesser penalty, I must dissent.
The majority credits petitioner’s assertion that the assistance given to him by his supervisors and colleagues was inadequate. The record reveals however, that petitioner appealed his unsatisfactory ratings for school years 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 and those appeals were denied. Petitioner received 14 observations from his principal and assistant principals containing recommendations for the improvement of his performance. The school’s administration also prepared three different “Plans of Assistance” for him each year after he was warned that he was in danger of receiving an unsatisfactory rating. His principal recommended that petitioner participate in the Peer Intervention Plus Program, and a mentor was assigned to work with petitioner.
The majority minimizes the nature and extent of petitioner’s shortcomings. The charges that were sustained by the Hearing Officer, and not disputed by the majority, involved more than simply an inability to control his classroom in the face of a difficult group of students. They include allegations of neglect and disregard for student health, safety and well-being, failing to timely and/or properly manage his classroom, failing to properly and/or adequately engage students in instruction, failure to attend mandated faculty meetings, failure to properly, adequately and/or effectively plan and/or execute lessons, failure to timely, properly, adequately and/or effectively update, draft and/or implement his students’ Individualized Educational Plans (IEPs), and failure to implement professional development recommendations. Significantly, petitioner did not dispute some of the more serious charges made by respondent. For example, he did not testify regarding two incidents where students were entering and leaving the classroom without permission and where students were rolling around on the floor. Nor did he testify regarding the allegation that he took no action when students were observed by another teacher viewing pornographic material on a school computer, as well as an allegation that he failed to prepare his classroom properly because it lacked, among other things, bulletin boards, charts, information about reading and writing, and a daily schedule. With respect to the *421other charges, the Hearing Officer found more than adequate testimony, supported by contemporaneous records, to sustain those charges. Additionally, despite petitioner’s claims to the contrary, the Hearing Officer found that his colleagues repeatedly entered his classroom to assist with student instruction, control student behavior, model lessons for him, and assist him with IEPs. The record does not support petitioner’s claims that these remediation efforts were, as the majority finds, “neither consistent nor adequately targeted.” In fact, the Hearing Officer’s findings were supported by evidence which showed, among other things, that petitioner received observations, both formal and informal, beyond the required amount, which served to provide him with guidance and feedback as to his performance, as well as suggestions for improvement. Importantly, he participated in pre-observation conferences during which he was advised of his supervisors’ expectations.
The Hearing Officer’s credibility findings in favor of respondent’s witnesses are entitled to deference and neither petitioner nor the majority has advanced any reason to disturb those findings (Matter of Colon v City of N.Y. Dept. of Educ., 94 AD3d 568 [1st Dept 2012]; Matter of Douglas v New York City Bd./Dept. of Educ., 87 AD3d 856, 857 [1st Dept 2011]).
In determining the appropriate penalty, the Hearing Officer properly considered, at petitioner’s request, the efforts that respondent made to provide remediation, and his conclusion that those efforts were adequate is supported by the record. Petitioner received feedback and suggestions for improvement through observation reports and pre-observation conferences, plans of assistance and support from his colleagues, and he participated in the Peer Intervention Plus Program (see Education Law § 3020-a [4]).
The standard for reviewing a penalty imposed after a hearing pursuant to Education Law § 3020-a is whether the punishment of dismissal was so disproportionate to the offenses as to be shocking to the court’s sense of fairness (Matter of Harris v Mechanicville Cent. School Dist., 45 NY2d 279, 285 [1978]; Matter of Pell v Board of Educ. of Union Free School Dist. No. 1 of Towns of Scarsdale & Mamaroneck, Westchester County, 34 NY2d 222, 233 [1974]). Contrary to the majority’s conclusion, the record here supports the Hearing Officer’s determination that termination is appropriate.
While it is true that petitioner has an unblemished record prior to the 2008-2009 school year, that factor alone is not determinative (see e.g. Matter of Ajeleye v New York City Dept. of Educ., 112 AD3d 425, 425-426 [1st Dept 2013] [termination *422“does not shock one’s sense of fairness” where the petitioner was found guilty of insubordination, neglect of duty and conduct unbecoming his position, after a 14 year unblemished record]). In light of the Hearing Officer’s findings of a long-term pattern of inadequate performance by petitioner and that sufficient attempts at remediation had been unsuccessful, the penalty of termination is not disproportionate to the offenses (see Lackow, 51 AD3d at 569). “That reasonable minds might disagree over what the proper penalty should have been does not provide a basis for vacating the arbitral award or refashioning the penalty” (City School Dist. of the City of N.Y. v McGraham, 17 NY3d 917, 920 [2011]).
I would therefore affirm the order and confirm the arbitration award.