LI High School Accused of Racial Discrimination Against Teacher

COMMACK, NY - A black teacher recently filed a lawsuit against the Commack School District claiming she experienced racial discrimination and harassment from both the staff and the students.

Andrea Bryan, who is of Caribbean decent, has been working as an English teacher at Commack High School since 2002. In that time she says was the only black teacher in the entire school district, according to the lawsuit.

However, Commack School District spokesperson Brenda Lentsch said in a statement that this was not true and that she is not the only black teacher in the district.

"Many of the allegations in the lawsuit are false," the statement read. "Other allegations which are true were vigorously and promptly addressed."

The statement did not specify which allegations were true.

While working at the school, Bryan cited a specific example where another teacher, who is white, made derogatory comments towards her.

The incident occurred last year during one lunch time, there were bags of peanuts on the table in the office and when Bryan asked the teacher if she could take one, he told her the food was "for whites only," according to the lawsuit.

In another instance, in 2015 the English department was student the play, The Crucible, which includes a black character who travels from Barbados as a slave, and the same teacher asked Bryan to translate the character's "slave talk," the lawsuit claims.

After these incidents Bryan reported the teacher, who was a popular teacher in the school, to his supervisor, resulting in the teacher's demotion.

Following the demotion of the teacher, Bryan was "ostracized and made a pariah within the department," according to the lawsuit.

Bryan also claims that in 2017 when she was involved in a serious accident, she did not receive any cards or flowers from any of her colleagues despite the fact that she and other faculty contributed money to the Sunshine Fund, according to the lawsuit.

The fund is meant to collect money to send flowers, gifts cards, etc. to staff during difficult times, such as an illness or death in the family.

Bryan also experienced discrimination from her students, some of whom would refer to her as "Aunt Jemima," the lawsuit claims.

The district is being accused of violating the Civil Rights Act as a result of these examples, according to the lawsuit.

While the lawsuit does not state how much money she is seeking from the school district, it does state Bryan is seeking "compensatory damages for emotional pain and suffering, mental anguish, embarrassment and humiliation; punitive damages; as well as attorneys’ fees, costs and disbursements."

Lentsch said in the statement that "the district takes any allegation of discrimination seriously."

"As a matter of policy and practice, [the district] acts swiftly in response to any claim. Due to privacy requirements, the district cannot discuss the details of Ms. Bryan’s claims. We can say that all of them have been investigated and, to the extent appropriate, promptly addressed. We adhere to the District's Code of Conduct which states that 'intimidation or abuse based on a person’s actual or perceived race, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientation, gender (identity or expression), or sex' will not be tolerated. We remain a welcoming school community dedicated to the goal of providing an inclusive, safe and healthy environment for students and staff."

Photo: Commack High School/Google Maps