Ok, I'm stumped. Mayor De Blasio and Chancellor Carmen Farina appoint a person to oversee the State and Federal policies that she was found guilty of violating by a jury in federal court?
I think we are owed a detailed explanation of this one. Please describe your reasons, Carmen and Bill!
Betsy Combier
betsy.combier@gmail.com
Weinstein Allows Reargument on Dismissed Case
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| Judge Jack Weinstein |
Article source: http://www.newyorklawjournal.com
A judge has given an assistant principal a second chance to argue that she was a victim of retaliation for refusing to frame African-American teachers for disciplinary violations.Saying he was acting to "correct a possible injustice," Eastern District Judge Jack Weinstein (See Profile) agreed to allow reargument on the 1981 retaliation claim of Christina Villavicencio that she was punished by P.S. 316 principal Elif Gure-Perez for failing to write false reports.
Weinstein said case law on discrimination was overlooked, and he cited cases not mentioned by either party.
He had granted a motion for summary judgment on Oct. 2 in favor of Gure-Perez and the New York City Department of Education in Villavicencio v. Gure-Perez, 14-CV-0889.
He made that decision on the basis of Leibovitz v. N.Y.C. Transit Authority, 252 F.3d 179 (2d Cir. 2001), where the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said a plaintiff had no cause of action for discrimination that she did not observe herself.
But Weinstein reversed course on Wednesday, issuing an order and withdrawal of dismissal, saying that a line of U.S. Supreme Court and Second Circuit cases shows that a 42 U.S.C. ?1981 cause of action could be pursued against a superior where an employee suffers retaliation for trying to prevent discrimination by that superior.
Villavicencio worked as an assistant principal on probationary status from 2008 to 2009 at P.S. 316, where Gure-Perez allegedly told her to "aggressively supervise" older staff members--all but one of whom was African-American--to "shake them up."
Gure-Perez allegedly instructed Villavicencio to focus on two employees, give them "unsatisfactory" ratings and use "fear" and "intimidation" against a third teacher she wanted forced into retirement.
Villavicencio refused, and in her complaint, she charged that once Gure-Perez realized she would not take part in "her plan to use trumped-up write-ups, fraudulent evaluations and false pretenses to get rid of older African American staff at P.S. 316," Gure-Perez created "a false paper trail" to get rid of Villavicencio.
Gure-Perez placed seven disciplinary letters in her file on a single day on March 17, 2009. Nine days later, Villavicencio received her first unsatisfactory rating of her career along with a notice of discontinuance of her probationary status.
When she was reassigned to another school, P.S. 161, the principal, who was a friend of Gure-Perez's, allegedly gave her a hard time and threatened disciplinary action. Villavicencio was advised by a United Federation of Teachers representative to leave the school because the principal and her friends "are after you." She went on medical leave for anxiety and depression.
Weinstein said that neither side in the summary judgment phase of the case cited any cases that he said favored Villavicencio. Among them are Thompson v. N. Am. Stainless, LP, 131 S.Ct. 863 (2011) where the Supreme Court said third-party reprisals are not categorically excluded from the anti-retaliation provisions of Title VII, and CBOCS W., Inc. v. Humphries, 553 U.S. 442, where the court said a ?1981 claim can be made where a person suffers retaliation for trying to help a person who was the target of discrimination.
The Supreme Court also said in Sullivan v. Little Hunting Park, Inc. 396 U.S. 229 (1969), that a person can sue under the Civil Rights Act if he or she could show they were "punished for trying to vindicate the rights of minorities." And the Second Circuit held in Albert v. Carovano, 851 F.2d 561 (2d Cir. 1988) that "non-minority plaintiffs may bring an action under ?1981 against one who retaliated against them because they did not engage in purposeful discrimination."
Weinstein said that these cases and more "provide grounds for distinguishing the decision in Leibowitz" which was his basis for granting the motion for summary judgment.
In an interview Thursday, Weinstein said that after issuing the decision, "we thought about it and did further research" on the matter that led to the withdrawal of dismissal.
He set Oct. 23 for reargument.
Assistant Corporation Counsel Leah Schmelzer argued for the Department of Education.
Kenechukwu Okoli represents Villavicencio.
Okoli said Thursday he had argued that Liebovitz did not apply and the judge had to look at the totality of the circumstances in deciding retaliation. He said he did not cite the cases, but argued nonetheless that a person who refused to participate in discrimination can state a case of retaliation.
"I'm happy that the judge took the time to take a second look at the case," he said.
Weinstein said case law on discrimination was overlooked, and he cited cases not mentioned by either party.
He had granted a motion for summary judgment on Oct. 2 in favor of Gure-Perez and the New York City Department of Education in Villavicencio v. Gure-Perez, 14-CV-0889.
He made that decision on the basis of Leibovitz v. N.Y.C. Transit Authority, 252 F.3d 179 (2d Cir. 2001), where the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said a plaintiff had no cause of action for discrimination that she did not observe herself.
But Weinstein reversed course on Wednesday, issuing an order and withdrawal of dismissal, saying that a line of U.S. Supreme Court and Second Circuit cases shows that a 42 U.S.C. ?1981 cause of action could be pursued against a superior where an employee suffers retaliation for trying to prevent discrimination by that superior.
Villavicencio worked as an assistant principal on probationary status from 2008 to 2009 at P.S. 316, where Gure-Perez allegedly told her to "aggressively supervise" older staff members--all but one of whom was African-American--to "shake them up."
Gure-Perez allegedly instructed Villavicencio to focus on two employees, give them "unsatisfactory" ratings and use "fear" and "intimidation" against a third teacher she wanted forced into retirement.
Villavicencio refused, and in her complaint, she charged that once Gure-Perez realized she would not take part in "her plan to use trumped-up write-ups, fraudulent evaluations and false pretenses to get rid of older African American staff at P.S. 316," Gure-Perez created "a false paper trail" to get rid of Villavicencio.
Gure-Perez placed seven disciplinary letters in her file on a single day on March 17, 2009. Nine days later, Villavicencio received her first unsatisfactory rating of her career along with a notice of discontinuance of her probationary status.
When she was reassigned to another school, P.S. 161, the principal, who was a friend of Gure-Perez's, allegedly gave her a hard time and threatened disciplinary action. Villavicencio was advised by a United Federation of Teachers representative to leave the school because the principal and her friends "are after you." She went on medical leave for anxiety and depression.
Weinstein said that neither side in the summary judgment phase of the case cited any cases that he said favored Villavicencio. Among them are Thompson v. N. Am. Stainless, LP, 131 S.Ct. 863 (2011) where the Supreme Court said third-party reprisals are not categorically excluded from the anti-retaliation provisions of Title VII, and CBOCS W., Inc. v. Humphries, 553 U.S. 442, where the court said a ?1981 claim can be made where a person suffers retaliation for trying to help a person who was the target of discrimination.
The Supreme Court also said in Sullivan v. Little Hunting Park, Inc. 396 U.S. 229 (1969), that a person can sue under the Civil Rights Act if he or she could show they were "punished for trying to vindicate the rights of minorities." And the Second Circuit held in Albert v. Carovano, 851 F.2d 561 (2d Cir. 1988) that "non-minority plaintiffs may bring an action under ?1981 against one who retaliated against them because they did not engage in purposeful discrimination."
Weinstein said that these cases and more "provide grounds for distinguishing the decision in Leibowitz" which was his basis for granting the motion for summary judgment.
In an interview Thursday, Weinstein said that after issuing the decision, "we thought about it and did further research" on the matter that led to the withdrawal of dismissal.
He set Oct. 23 for reargument.
Assistant Corporation Counsel Leah Schmelzer argued for the Department of Education.
Kenechukwu Okoli represents Villavicencio.
Okoli said Thursday he had argued that Liebovitz did not apply and the judge had to look at the totality of the circumstances in deciding retaliation. He said he did not cite the cases, but argued nonetheless that a person who refused to participate in discrimination can state a case of retaliation.
"I'm happy that the judge took the time to take a second look at the case," he said.
Elif Gure-Perez
Executive Director, NYC Department of Education
- Location
- New York, New York
- Industry
- Education Management
| Edit experience | |||
Experience |
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| Elif Gure-Perez was named as an executive director in the DOE’s Office of School Improvement. |
The de Blasio administration promoted a disgraced principal to a top Department of Education post despite multiple charges that she’s racist, The Post has learned.
Elif Gure-Perez, who was named in June as an executive director in the DOE’s Office of School Improvement, created a “hostile, race-based work environment,” a Manhattan federal court found months before her appointment.
Gure-Perez, the former principal of PS 316 in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, called one staffer the N-word to her face; referred to an African-American teacher as “Shining,” an insulting term for a shoe shiner; and spoke of buying a bright orange blouse to wear to school “since I know black people like loud colors,” witnesses testified.
She denied the accusations.
In her new post, Gure-Perez is assigned to support 14 high schools in the mayor’s $150 million School Renewal Program for struggling schools, according to DOE spokesman Will Mantell. Her salary is $144,195.
Asked why Chancellor Carmen Fariña promoted Gure-Perez in light of the complaints, the DOE had no comment.
Former PS 316 parent coordinator Carolyn Lovejoy testified she broke down in tears when Gure-Perez yelled at her, “Get out of my office, you n—-r, get out!”
In March, a Manhattan jury found Gure-Perez liable for civil damages, awarding Lovejoy $110,000, which the city is paying.
An assistant principal who testified in Lovejoy’s case, Martin Williams, said Gure-Perez repeatedly used the phrase “black ass” in discussing teachers, and told him to “crack the whip.”
“I felt belittled, and as a black person and an astute student of history, it smacks of racism to me,” Williams said.
Williams said he complained to then-Chancellor Joel Klein after Gure-Perez made reference to a story called “Old Black Joe,” which teachers considered a negative stereotype, at a faculty meeting.
Within 24 hours, Gure-Perez sent Williams to the infamous rubber room, he said, where he sat for four months on “trumped-up charges.”
In a related suit, Elizabeth Butler, a veteran teacher trainer at PS 316, accused Gure-Perez of repeatedly saying she sat on her “old ass.”
“Total disrespect and constant embarrassment” drove Butler to retire, she says.
In another pending suit, then-assistant principal Christina Villavicencio claims Gure-Perez punished her for defying orders to give bogus “Unsatisfactory” ratings to older African-American teachers, and to use “fear and intimidation” tactics to drive them out.
Villavicencio, who is seeking $1 million in damages, said Gure-Perez slapped her with seven disciplinary letters in one day, gave her the first U-rating of her career and fired her.
“From the moment Villavicencio refused to file false reports on these African-American teachers, Gure-Perez started a campaign to terminate Villavicencio’s employment as assistant principal,” Manhattan federal Judge Jack Weinstein wrote in a November ruling. The case is set for trial on Jan. 27.
Gure-Perez, 40, who immigrated from Turkey in 2001, got her bachelor’s degree from Istanbul University and a master’s degree in education from NYU. She joined the DOE in 2002 and quickly took administrative posts. She was principal of PS 316 from 2008 to 2011, then was moved to DOE headquarters.
On her Twitter page, Gure-Perez has supported the policies of Mayor de Blasio, including curbing co-locations of charter schools in DOE buildings. Last February, she retweeted a Chalkbeat.org article headlined “Fariña’s game plan to undo (and redo) the Bloomberg years.”
After her termination , Villavicencio went back to teaching, but became principal of PS 197 in Far Rockaway, Queens, in 2012. She declined to comment. Lovejoy said only, “It’s been horrible.”
Since the DOE needs someone who is ruthless, the new executive director in the DOE’s Office of School Improvement will have NO PROBLEM closing down any schools in trouble.
ReplyDeleteJust like those schools now have to follow "Balanced Literacy".
Their fates have been SEALED.