XPost: school.teachers, sac.general, alt.politics.democrats   
   XPost: alt.rush-limbaugh   
   From: cblasey@paloaltou.edu   
      
   A white city public school teacher — who claims she was   
   wrongfully fired over a controversial lesson on slavery in which   
   she was accused of having black students lie on the floor while   
   she stepped on their backs — plans to sue the city for $1   
   billion.   
      
   Patricia Cummings, 37, was canned in October after complaints   
   about the highly unorthodox teaching method that left some   
   students feeling humiliated and singled out by the exercise.   
      
   But Cummings insisted Thursday that she initiated the lesson in   
   her class at MS 118 in the Bronx in good faith — and only one   
   student and her parent objected.   
      
   Her sacking — and the torrent of criticism that followed — has   
   rendered her permanently unemployable, Cummings said at a press   
   conference alongside her lawyer, Thomas Liotti. “I have no   
   career at this point,” she said.   
      
   She filed a $120 million lawsuit in Suffolk County, where she   
   lives, against a slew of defendants ranging from the city   
   Department of Education to Mayor Bill de Blasio to media   
   outlets. But Liotti said they plan to build a $1 billion class-   
   action case with other teachers claiming similar forms of   
   discrimination.   
      
   Cummings said she was initially cleared after an internal school   
   investigation but that the case was revived after media reports   
   on the incident.   
      
   The teacher said her suit will be supported by the testimony of   
   a black teacher at the school who witnessed the lesson.   
      
   That colleague found it effective — and said he would not have   
   objected if his own kids had taken part.   
      
   “That 20 seconds of a teachable moment changed my life,” she   
   said, adding that she was pelted with emails calling for her   
   murder and was widely vilified as a racist.   
      
   “Anyone who has met me knows I don’t have that bone in my body,”   
   she said. “I was brought up — you treat everybody the way you   
   want to be treated.”   
      
   Liotta argued Thursday that the lesson only drew objections   
   because of his client’s race.   
      
   “How does the City of New York expect to attract effective   
   teachers when people like Patricia Cummings have to go through   
   this kind of abuse?” he asked. “It’s outrageous.”   
      
   The Education Department initially reassigned Cummings before   
   firing her after an investigation, according to agency spokesman   
   Doug Cohen.   
      
   Their probe found that she used poor judgment but did not   
   substantiate the corporal punishment charge.   
      
   “Ms. Cummings was terminated based on a thorough investigation   
   and a review of her performance as an educator,” Cohen said   
   Thursday. “We’ll review the complaint.”   
      
   https://nypost.com/2019/01/10/teacher-fired-for-making-black-   
   students-play-slaves-in-class-plans-1b-lawsuit/   
       
      
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