Masterman teachers are suing the Philadelphia School District, saying it violated their First Amendment rights

Three Masterman teachers have filed a lawsuit against the Philadelphia School District, saying the school system punished them and withheld pay because they publicly demanded answers about the asbestos inside their building.

The teachers — two current staffers and one retired educator — filed the suit in federal court Aug. 18 on behalf of themselves and other Masterman staff over the August 2021 incident. The named plaintiffs are Ethan Tannen, a Masterman math teacher, Carolyn Gray, a 55-year district veteran who teaches fifth grade, and retired sixth-grade teacher Karen Celli. The plaintiffs are asking for the suit to be awarded class-action status.

Over two teacher work days before students reported to school, the majority of Masterman’s faculty — more than 50 teachers — worked outside, conducting meetings, completing professional development tasks, and planning for students’ return in the school’s outdoor courtyard, directly in front of the building. They worked at folding tables and in camp chairs, while parents supportive of their efforts held signs and provided water. During a break, they held a news conference, supported by parents, students and politicians.

» READ MORE: Masterman teachers plan to work outside because of asbestos

“We do not feel safe in the building,” Tannen said in 2021. Parents and staff had spent months trying to get answers to specific questions about the damaged asbestos in their building, to no avail.

At the time, more than 60 areas of damaged asbestos had been identified at Masterman, with imminent hazards noted in the school’s art room and in a second-floor restroom, as well as damaged materials and dust above drop ceilings. The district had promised that hundreds of feet of the damaged asbestos would be removed, but it had not been as of August 2021.

District officials, including then-Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. and Marge Neff, who was acting principal at the time, said the school was safe and told teachers that if they did not come inside the building, they would be disciplined. The teachers worked outside for two days in sweltering weather; they returned to the building the next week, before students reported to school. The teachers say they still do not have complete information about the repairs and all areas of concern.

» READ MORE: Masterman teachers working outside over asbestos concerns told to go inside. They refused.

Mary Catherine Roper, a lawyer for the teachers, said the teachers at Masterman, which has remained open, were not absent from their jobs.

“The district knew that and knew they were working,” Roper said in a statement. “The district wanted to stop the protest, so they threatened the teachers and then punished them. That violates the First Amendment.”

The teachers, the lawsuit said, were attempting to shine a light on the district’s failure “to provide Masterman teachers and parents complete information about asbestos remediation efforts at Masterman, and the potential danger that asbestos inside the school building posed to their students and to themselves. The demonstration drew media attention and embarrassed the district, but the plaintiffs fulfilled all of their job duties while they worked outside on those two days.”

Masterman’s patio is widely used as an extension of the school building, with teachers working there during their prep time and students gathering for school-sanctioned events.

“There was nothing improper about the teachers working on the patio rather than inside the building on the days in question. No Masterman teacher has previously been disciplined for working outside. The teachers who did not have specific duties inside the building on Aug. 26 and 27, 2021, remained outside the building for those two days and were punished for their protest,” the suit says.

Those teachers who worked outside received “Unauthorized Leave Without Pay” notices and were docked money from their paychecks.

All of those teachers filed grievances through the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, but the grievances were denied by the district. The suit seeks the expungement of the disciplinary notices, pay with interest, and compensatory damages.

Tannen, a Masterman alumnus who has taught at the school since 2018, said that the lawsuit was the last resort, and that he and others are still concerned about environmental conditions inside not just Masterman, but other district schools.

“Many folks at Masterman have reached out to the district to try to have a conversation about these [disciplinary actions], but nobody has been willing to talk to us about them,” Tannen said. “We worked those days, we should be paid for them. We stood up for the safety of our students and ourselves, and honestly, we’re shocked that the district would take that illegal step to take our pay away as a way to silence us.”

A district spokesperson said the system does not comment on pending litigation.

The school system has a history of environmental woes.

Last school year — after the Masterman teachers drew attention to the issue — six schools were closed because of asbestos, and Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. said that the district knew of damaged asbestos for years but did nothing about it, and failed to alert those inside affected buildings.

The district’s inspector general is now conducting an investigation of environmental conditions at Building 21, a public high school in West Oak Lane, and subsequent revelations that damaged asbestos was mislabeled and mishandled over years.