UES Teacher Fired For Being Gay, Defending Bullied Kid: Lawsuit

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A former teacher is taking the city to court after suffering through two years of harassment and discrimination during his tenure at an Upper East Side middle school.

Robert Halkitis claims that his tenure at Robert F. Wagner Middle School was discontinued this year because of multiple complaints he made to school administrators about anti-gay harassment by students and other faculty members. Halkitis, who is gay, claims he "experienced a severe and pervasive hostile work environment because of his sex, gender expression and actual or perceived sexual orientation," according to a lawsuit filed in federal court this week.

Administrators didnt't give Halkitis a sufficient reason for his discontinuation in June, instead choosing to cite a "developing" rating on his 2018-2019 Measures of Teacher Practice review. Halkitis claims that his ratings for his two years at Wagner were actually "effective."

"The reason they refused to state a reason for the discontinuance is that they knew the reason to be discriminatory and retaliatory based on sex, gender expression and sexual orientation," the lawsuit reads.

Halkitis believes he was let go by the school because of anti-gay harassment he suffered at the hands of students and fellow faculty members.

Examples of harassment suffered by Halkitis include students calling him "f***ing f***ot" in class, an office clerk asking another teacher if they were "getting his sweet on" with Halkitis and an instance where Halkitis' classroom whiteboard was vandalized with the word "f***ot" that prompted a police response.

The lawsuit claims that school administrators failed to "take prompt and effective action to stop the harassment."

Halkitis also claims his decision to stick up for a non-binary, gender non-conforming student bullied by classmates led to his eventual firing, according to the lawsuit. The teacher claims that school administrators turned a blind eye to the bullying for two years, only telling the child's mother that they would "look into it" after the parent complained in February 2019. Halkitis claims school officials also failed to log the bullying in the Online Occurrence Reporting System, and says he was subject to retaliation after getting involved in meetings involving the student and school officials.

A Department of Education spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.