Aug 18, 2010 By Carla Destefano 4 min read

A Brownsville Area High School teacher who was suspended after photos of her with a stripper at a bachelorette party appeared on a social networking site will receive back pay, a cleared record and an award for emotional distress. Ginger D’Amico, a Spanish teacher for seven years in the Brownsville Area School District, said she is relieved the ordeal is over, and is anxious to get back to work. The settlement with the district comes after the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented D’Amico, and the Pennsylvania State Education Association threatened to sue the district after the suspension of the teacher in January, calling the district’s actions too severe because D’Amico’s choice of entertainment was not only lawful, but constitutionally protected.

“Unfortunately, this issue is one that is going to be happening with greater and greater frequency,” said Witold “Vic” Walczak, legal director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “With all the technology, there is less and less privacy in our lives. Legally, this is still a gray area.”

In December, D’Amico of New Salem hosted a party at her home for another district employee who was about to be married. The event included a visit by a male stripper, who was at the event for about 30 minutes, according to D’Amico.

Photos of the party were posted on Facebook by another attendee of the party. D’Amico said the photos were not on the site for more than 24 hours before she asked that they be taken off, but it was long enough for district officials to notice and take action.

After an investigation by the district, by February all the district employees who attended the party were notified that disciplinary notices would be placed in their files. Because D’Amico was the only one clearly identified in any of the photos, she also received a 30-day suspension without pay. D’Amico said all the guests at the party were district employees, except for her sister.

Walczak said negotiations with the district resulted in the lift of her suspension on Feb. 5, allowing D’Amico to return to work after just 19 days. Eventually, the district also agreed to pay her more than $4,400 in gross pay back wages she lost during her suspension and award a $10,000 payment, which D’Amico and the ACLU will split, if they agree not to sue.

“We do think that Brownsville overreacted here, but we are grateful to Brownsville for working with us,” Walczak said.

Arbitration for the remaining employees in regards to the disciplinary letters in their files is scheduled for September. The ACLU is not representing those teachers.

D’Amico, 37, said while she could have remained anonymous in the media, she wanted to speak out to regain the respect of her community.

“It was really important because so many people know about how this was wrong, but so many people needed to know that my name was cleared,” she said.

She describes herself as a dedicated employee who maintained a clean disciplinary record and satisfactory reviews prior to this incident. Prior to her employment in Brownsville, she was a teacher for seven years in Baltimore, Md.

She is also the daughter of the late Orlando “Lundy” D’Amico, who taught math and science in the Brownsville school 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,” said D’Amico. “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.”

D’Amico said she has not received an apology from the district regarding the matter.

“I think the fact that I got everything back is enough for me,” she said.