An openly gay high school librarian’s six-month suspension for non-sexual but inappropriate touching of male students has been reinstated by a Manhattan appeals court.
"The record is completely devoid of any indicia that either the charges or the penalty imposed were motivated in whole or in part by petitioner’s sexual orientation," a unanimous panel of the Appellate Division, First Department, ruled yesterday in Asch v. New York City Board/Department of Education, 8655. "As a result, the motion court improperly substituted its judgment for that of the hearing officer and thus erroneously applied the narrow public policy exception to invalidate the hearing officers’ determination."
