She confused teaching and preaching, school officials say.
A veteran public-school teacher who was canned for calling students “racist” and referring to herself as a “Messenger of God” is suing to get her job back.
Dr. Patricia Missick, who had been fined and reprimanded several years ago for verbally abusing students and for incompetence, riled eighth-graders at JHS 189 in Queens by repeatedly mentioning her close ties to God.
“She was preaching about God, which I know is wrong to do, because in the public schools, everyone has their different religions,” one student testified at Missick’s disciplinary hearing last year, according to Department of Education documents.
Another student wrote that Missick said “she talks to God, how she had a dream about us, how she knows what I’m going to be when I grow up.”
Missick, who is also a professional opera singer, said the students misheard her referencing her past as a “minister.”
She acknowledged in the hearing that she had told students they were being disrespectful because she’s black, but denied calling them “racist.”
Still, the hearing officer found her guilty of the charges, writing that “as a result of [her] conduct, students in the classroom felt belittled and ridiculed.”
In a lawsuit filed Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court, Missick, who had earned $100,000 a year, criticized the investigation against her as haphazard and the hearing officer’s decision as “irrational.”
The court papers also claim one of the students who testified against her was simply seeking pay-back for being booted out of the classroom.
“The record is barren of any remotely credible evidence of verbal abuse by [Missick] whatsoever,” the papers claim.
Even if she had been guilty of the charges, the papers add, “the punishment does not fit the crime.”
Missick, 62, could not be reached for comment.
A DOE spokeswoman said, “The decision to fire her was based on sound reasoning, and we are confident the court will uphold the arbitrator’s ruling.”