| Teacher
Hit in Head at
and Fired by
Bronx Urban
Assembly
Dismissed in
SDNY Can NYS
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
June 27 –
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."
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.
Jump
cut to August
5, 2024 when
there was a
conference in
the case, held
by Magistrate
Judge
Katharine H.
Parker. Inner
City Press
covered it.
Urban Assembly
and David Noah
are seeking
the CVS
records of the
plaintiff,
saying she's
claiming IBS
from the
stress of
being fired.
Judge Parker
set a
mediation for
October 8 at 2
pm.
On
June 27, 2025,
this order:
"Defendants
are entitled
to summary
judgment with
respect to
Samuels's ADA
claims the
only federal
claims in this
case. Samuels
has not
established
that she was
disabled
within the
meaning of the
ADA, and the
record makes
clear that
UACS
terminated her
in large part
for filing a
police report
against a
student and
thereafter
failing to
communicate
with the
School but not
for requesting
ADA
accommodations.
Accordingly,
the motion for
summary
judgment is
granted with
respect to the
ADA claims.
The Court
declines to
exercise
supplemental
jurisdiction
over Samuels's
state and city
law claims,
which are
dismissed
without
prejudice. It
will be for
the New York
courts to
determine
whether
Defendants'
conduct is
actionable
under New York
law.
(Signed by
Judge Ronnie
Abrams on
6/26/2025)
(rro)
The
case is
Samuels v. The
Urban
Assembly,
Inc., et al,
1:23-cv-1379
(Abrams /
Parker)
***
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