The ongoing feud between former principal Patricia Catania and teachers at Bronx Intermediate School 224 continues.
What We Know:
- The feud between the two parties dates back to 2018, when Catania allegedly prohibited English teacher Mercedes Liriano from teaching lessons on the Harlem Renaissance and confiscated a student’s poster on African-American musical genius Lena Horne.
- Catania advised that Liriano was teaching without a lesson plan and would need an adequate plan if she desired to teach on the subject of the Harlem Renaissance.
- Catania also stated that teachers waged war on her for cracking down on under-performing educators and has filed a lawsuit against a group of teachers at the Bronx school for discriminating against her on the basis that she is white.
- According to the NY Daily News, the educators have filed an $8 million lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court claiming the principal targeted them because of their race and made work so unbearable that two were forced to quit.
- “All the Black teachers are only good for disciplining the kids. They’re not bright or effective teachers,” Catania allegedly said as she booted black educators and replaced them with white ones. The educators have slammed Catania’s suit as “frivolous, harassing, and retaliatory,” in legal filings.
The Education Department spokeswoman Danielle Filson said the agency is reviewing the teachers’ lawsuit.
