Brownsville teacher settles with district over suspension
A Brownsville Area School District teacher who was suspended over pictures posted on the social networking site Facebook was awarded back pay and damages to avoid filing a lawsuit. Ginger D’Amico, who teaches Spanish at the high school, was suspended without pay for 30 days in January after photos of her with a stripper at a bachelorette party were posted on the site by someone else who attended the party.
The photos were up for less than a day when D’Amico asked the person who posted them to take them down.
“As technology breaks down barriers to privacy, public employers cannot punish employees simply because they disapprove of the worker’s off-duty conduct,” said Witold “Vic” Walczak, legal director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “Discipline for off-duty conduct must be limited to behavior that is significantly harmful to the employer.”
D’Amico received back pay for the time she was suspended, and $10,000, which was divided between her and the ACLU. Additionally, her record will be wiped clean.
D’Amico has been a teacher at the school for seven years, and always received satisfactory reviews. Her father taught in the district for 34 years.
“I don’t know what was more devastating to me, being singled out amongst a group of colleagues or feeling as if I destroyed my family name,” D’Amico said. “An innocent girls’ night out was turned into a crime, which it certainly was not. Now I’m just glad we’ve reached an agreement and hopefully everyone can put this matter behind them.”
For more information, read Wednesday’s Herald-Standard.