Ed Law Briefly: Court Finds Teacher's Punishment Excessive

RCEd Commentary

Background: Alini Brito was a tenured Spanish teacher at a New York City high school when she returned to school one evening to watch a musical competition in the school’s auditorium. During the evening, she left the performance and went to a darkened, empty classroom on the third floor where a janitor discovered her partially undressed (topless) and engaging in “sexually inappropriate conduct” with a female French teacher, colleague. These actions caused negative publicity and ridicule when Brito’s conduct was reported in area newspapers. As a result, she was fired. But Brito argued that the penalty of termination was shockingly disproportionate to her admittedly bad conduct.

Issue: Was Brito’s firing too far out of proportion to her misbehavior, or did the district impose a proper consequence given her status as a teacher and the high-profile embarrassment she caused?

Legal Principles: The court will need to determine if the  penalty of being fired from  her job is shocking to one’s sense of fairness. In short, is the sanction so grave in its impact that it is grossly disproportionate to Brito’s misconduct or to the possible harm suffered by the New York City school district?

Outcome: A New York state appeals court ruled against the district, awarding Brito a victory. Judges explained that when the incident occurred, Brito was at school as a member of the audience and not in any official capacity. Furthermore, her carrying on involved a consenting adult colleague and was not observed by any student. 

The court also noted that Brito was a tenured teacher who in the past made many positive contributions to the school. She had an unblemished record, and was described by her supervisor as “one of the best teachers she had ever worked with.” The court acknowledged that the teacher’s behavior “demonstrated a lack of judgment,” but it emphasized that it was not criminal, did not involve students, appeared to be a one-time mistake, and would not affect her ability to teach. 

The court was also persuaded by the number of cases in which a teacher’s misconduct was much greater than Brito’s fling in the darkened classroom, and yet the punishment was less severe. The court added that even though the incident “was exploited in the media, that in and of itself, does not warrant the penalty of termination.” Therefore, the court returned the case to the school district “for the imposition of a lesser penalty.”

Lessons for Principals and Teachers:

• When considering the severity of a penalty for a teacher’s misconduct, administrators should consider all of the factors surrounding the misconduct and the teacher’s entire record.

• When a teacher’s misconduct is clear, courts usually do not substitute their judgment for the judgment of school officials and overrule a school district’s penalty.

• On rare occasions, courts will overturn the punishment of a teacher if the court finds that it is shockingly disproportionate to the conduct. This might occur in cases where the misconduct does not occur as part of the teacher’s official duties, does not involve students and was not observed by students, is not criminal, is a one-time mistake, and does not involve the teacher’s ability to teach.

• The court took notice of other behavior and other penalties imposed to determine proportionality. Principals and districts should be as consistent as possible in making sure the most severe offenses receive the most stringent punishments and vice versa, taking away that criticism.  

New York Appellate Division, First Department
Brito v. Walcott, 982 N.Y.S.2d 105 (N.Y. App. Div. 2014)

_{Note: This information is not intended as legal advice. Federal and other court decisions can differ depending on what region of the country you live in. State laws also weigh in on certain issues. All cases are for educational purposes only, and meant to demonstrate how courts or administrative agencies have acted in specific instances as well as to provide information that can bolster the overall legal literacy of teachers and administrators. Local school attorneys can provide more detail about local law.}