Court Green Lights Major Claim of Discrimination Against Queens Principal
A federal judge has pared claims from a discrimination lawsuit against the New York City Department of Education over the treatment of three black teachers at a Queens high school. But the major allegations in the suit, that the former principal for the Pan American International High School in Elmhurst targeted black teachers through patterns of discrimination, remain intact.
April 05, 2017 at 04:04 PM
3 minute read
A federal judge has pared claims from a discrimination lawsuit against the New York City Department of Education over the treatment of three black teachers at a Queens high school. But the major allegations in the suit, which was brought by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York—that Minerva Zanca, the former principal for the Pan American International High School in the Elmhurst section of Queens, targeted black teachers through patterns of discrimination—remain intact.
John Flanagan and Heather Hightower, two of three black teachers at the school, allege that Zanca purposefully targeted them by giving negative feedback on their lessons. Anthony Riccardo, the school's assistant principal, said Zanca gave the teachers negative marks before seeing their lessons and that she made racially derogatory remarks about them.
The teachers sued Zanca and the Department of Education. In June 2016, the U.S. attorney filed a Title VII complaint against the department. The cases have been consolidated.
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