{"id":2270,"date":"2012-09-28T12:20:01","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T12:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=2270"},"modified":"2012-09-28T12:20:01","modified_gmt":"2012-09-28T12:20:01","slug":"theresa-reel-sexually-harassed-by-black-hispanic-boys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=2270","title":{"rendered":"Theresa Reel sexually harassed by black, Hispanic boys"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Theresa Reel, who received a settlement of $450 000 from the City of New York for suffering years of sexual harassmant from black and Hispanic students<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A white high school teacher who said she was sexually tormented by her students and then punished for complaining has scored a $450,000 settlement from the city, reports the New York Daily News.<\/p>\n

Theresa Reel, 52, who quit her job when she signed the deal, said the knowledge that she never has to set foot in the High School for Legal Studies again is just as sweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasted six years of my life being treated like dirt \u2014 less than dirt,\u201d Reel told the Daily News on Thursday. \u201cI can\u2019t put into words how happy I am.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Mississippi native started working at the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, school in 2005 and within a month, her job was a nightmare. The High School for Legal Studies is 62% black and 35% Latino.<\/p>\n

In a lawsuit she filed three years later, she described how students called her filthy names, flung condoms at each other and even touched her breast.<\/p>\n

Her pleas to school bosses were met with accusations that she showed too much cleavage, she charged.<\/p>\n

When she told then-Principal Denise Morgan that she made a student leave the class for sexual comments, the official\u2019s response was: \u201cAnd how does that threaten you?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Denise Morgan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Morgan defended her handling of Reel\u2019s complaints.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very comfortable with the professional manner in which I responded to this teacher\u2019s concerns,\u201d she told The New York Daily News.<\/p>\n

After Morgan was replaced at the troubled school, the new principal, Monica Ortiz, gave Reel unsatisfactory ratings.<\/p>\n

And a 2008 letter from the Department of Education chastised the social studies educator for \u201cinappropriate attire,\u201d described as a \u201clow-cut, V-neck lace top.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made me feel like I was worthless, like my own supervisors believed that I deserved to be treated like this,\u201d Reel said at the Woodside, Queens, home she shares with her cat.<\/p>\n

Reel\u2019s court papers detail the barrage of X-rated insults she faced in the classroom and corridors.<\/p>\n

One boy allegedly told her: \u201cI\u2019ve got rubbers \u2014 want to party?\u201d Another student accused a classmate of performing a sex act on Reel for good grades, she said.<\/p>\n

She recalled one male student crossing a hallway so he could graze her breast with his elbow and then \u201csmirk\u201d at her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was screaming,\u201d Reel said.<\/p>\n

She said the harassment made it impossible to function some days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cSometimes I\u2019d break down on the subway,\u201d she said. \u201cI would go home, sit in front of the TV and cry.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point, she said, she was suicidal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a plan in mind,\u201d she said, without elaborating. \u201cIt got so black and bleak I couldn\u2019t see it getting any better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city tried to get the federal discrimination suit tossed out, arguing Reel did not prove the school was a hostile environment, that she was singled out for her gender, or that she faced retaliation.<\/p>\n

On each count, the judge ruled there was enough evidence to let a jury decide and set a trial date for Sept. 10.<\/p>\n

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On Aug. 31, the city agreed to pay Reel $450,000 and remove the poor ratings from her record if she resigned.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWe think she had a very strong case,\u201d said lawyer Joshua Parkhurst of Cary Kane LLP. \u201cWe ultimately agreed to settle because it allows our client to get on with her life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reel has been on an unpaid leave of absence for a year, spending down her pensions savings. She\u2019s been looking for a new job, but was even turned down for a cleaning gig.<\/p>\n

DOE had no comment on the case.<\/p>\n

Morgan, the former principal, is now an assistant principal at the High School for Violin and Dance in the Bronx. Ortiz is still the head of Legal Studies, a D-rated school which had less than 60% of its students graduate in 2009.<\/p>\n

Legal Studies made headlines in 2010 when teachers were caught taking a lavish, taxpayer-funded junket and students were busted for using cell phones to film brawls and sex acts.<\/p>\n

Reel wasn\u2019t the only person at the school who thought pupils were out of line. In a 2010 city survey, only 49% of the students said learners treated teachers with respect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A white high school teacher who said she was sexually tormented by her students and then punished for complaining has scored a $450,000 settlement from the city, reports the New York Daily News. Theresa Reel, 52, who quit her job when she signed the deal, said the knowledge that she never has to set foot … Continue reading “Theresa Reel sexually harassed by black, Hispanic boys”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[250,1471,885,65,1472,1470,1469,12251],"class_list":["post-2270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-united-states","tag-black","tag-hispanic","tag-new-york","tag-race","tag-school-for-legal-studies","tag-sexual-harassment","tag-theresa-reel","tag-united-states"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/theresa_reel.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2270"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2285,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2270\/revisions\/2285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}