In 2005, the NYC Department of Education and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) added language in their teachers contract concerning sexual misconduct. In the agreement, any teacher "found by a hearing officer to have engaged in sexual misconduct" would be automatically dismissed.
However, the arbitrators who are charged with determining whether to terminate or discipline a teacher have been lenient on the teachers, even with overwhelming evidence that points to a clear case of sexual misconduct.
According to Campbell Brown, the founder of the Parents Transparency Project, who wrote an op-ed in the New York Post:
With these and other arbitrators minimizing the sexual behavior of accused teachers with their students, the DOE has had little success in terminating teachers accused of violating the 2005 provision. Only about a quarter of those for whom probable cause of sexual misconduct has been found have lost their jobs.
The union needs to stop claiming there's a zero-tolerance policy for teacher sexual abuse. The arbitrators disagree.
