Three Village teacher on leave after Facebook post
By Sabrina Artusa
A science teacher at R.C. Murphy Jr. High School in theThree Village Central School District is now on leave after posting an incendiary political post on Facebook.
The teacher, Pamila Pahuja, wrote in the post, “To all Trump supporters – hope the next time you take a drink it doesn’t swallow right and you go get help but no one is there and you slowly wither away while struggling to gasp and you suffer long.”
The post has sparked outrage from some parents. Others feel Pahuja did nothing wrong.
“I always like to put the shoe on the other foot,” former teacher and Hauppauge resident Dan Simon said, noting that teachers still have the freedom of speech. He added, however, that what she posted was a mistake. “Should she be doing that? Probably not.”
A father of a middle-school child, Doug said, “Just saying that about another person – it’s not right.” His child does not go to a district school.
He said that middle-schoolers are still learning right from wrong, and to “say stuff like that, you are kind of brainwashing them. It gets them thinking differently.”
Litigator Andrew Lieb said that there is a case to be made under labor law 201-d, which protects against discrimination for participating in certain activities including political activities outside of working hours and off the employer’s premises. Lieb has worked on similar cases pertaining to teachers.
“That is a hyperbole that wasn’t a specific threat,” Lieb said. “As long as she was off working hours off working premises, she is allowed to do this stuff. She is working for the government and the government can’t block speech.”
“Imagine all these teachers wanting to speak and not being able to have a voice,” he said. “That’s what this does and that’s why these laws are so important.
Pahuja also wrote, “To all my friends and their families worried, stay safe. America is no longer the land of the free – we are prisoners of the governments. Only a matter of time before they come for all women. Welcome to gilead, it’s on the way.”
On Jan. 26, the district released a letter to parents notifying them of Pahuja’s absence.
“Please be assured that we have taken steps to ensure a smooth transition and continued high-quality instruction in science. A qualified and certified science teacher will be assigned to your child’s class in her absence,” the letter, signed by Principal Michael Jantzen, reads.
The Three Village BOE and the Three Village Teachers Association would not comment on matters of personnel.