| Teacher
Hit in Head at
and Fired by
Bronx Urban
Assembly Heads
to Mediation
before Motion
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 10 –
Melissa
Samuels was
working as a
teacher at a
charter school
in The Bronx,
Urban
Assembly, when
a hardball
thrown by a
student hit
her in the
head, injuring
her.
She had a
concussion
which
"impacted her
ability to
care for
herself."
Through
counsel
she said the
school and its
founder David
Noah told her
not to report
it to the
police,
"asking if she
really wanted
to get a kid
involved with
the criminal
justice
system."
When the
police report
was filed,
Samuels was
cut off from
the school's
email system,
allegedly so
she wouldn't
share student
information.
Noah
emailed
Samuels that
"you were not
assaulted.
[Student]
accidentally
hit you with a
nerf ball
while he was
throwing it at
[Student] in a
raucous
classroom."
Then she was
fired. She
sued.
The
complaint,
filed in the
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York on
February 17
when Inner
City Press
found it in
the dockets,
asserts a
dozen causes
of action.
Perhaps
ironic, Noah
is a Yale Law
School
graduate who
previously
"advised
clients on
employment and
labor
compliance
matters."
On
May 8, Noah
and the
Charter School
filed a
pre-motion
letter with
the assigned
District
Judge, Ronnie
Abrams,
arguing among
other things
that
"Plaintiff's
claim of
retaliation
under the
First
Amendment
should be
dismissed as
the filing of
a police
report is not
an activity
protected by
the First
Amendment."
On
May 10 Judge
Abrams
docketed an
order "denying
without
prejudice
Letter Motion
for Conference
re: proposed
motion to
dismiss.
Pursuant to
the Southern
District of
New York's
Second Amended
Standing
Administrative
Order of
October 1,
2015 regarding
employment
discrimination
cases, this
case is
designated for
automatic
referral under
the Court's
existing
Alternative
Dispute
Resolution
program of
mediation.
Accordingly,
Defendants'
request to
file a motion
to dismiss is
denied without
prejudice to
renew at a
later date.
This case will
be referred to
mediation by
separate
order....if
the Southern
District
mediation
process is
unsuccessful,
counsel for
all parties
shall appear
for an initial
status
conference on
August 11,
2023 at 2:00
p.m. to be
held in
Courtroom 1506
of the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York, 40
Foley Square,
New York, New
York. IT IS
FURTHER
ORDERED that,
no later than
August 4,
2023, the
parties shall
submit a joint
letter, not to
exceed five
(5) pages,
providing the
following
information in
separate
paragraphs: as
set forth
herein. IT IS
FURTHER
ORDERED that,
no later than
August 4,
2021, the
parties
jointly submit
to the Court a
proposed case
management
plan and
scheduling
order." Watch
this site.
The
case is
Samuels v. The
Urban
Assembly,
Inc., et al,
23-cv-1379
(Abrams)
***
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