‘Racist’ Long Island athletic director fired for enforcing eligibility rules: lawsuit
By Kathianne Boniello
August 30, 2015 | 6:19am
‘Racist’ Long Island athletic director fired for enforcing eligibility rules: lawsuit
A Long Island educator says he was labeled a racist and fired for enforcing academic eligibility requirements for student athletes.
Students who are failing two or more classes are ineligible for sports, teacher Robert Cincotta, who served as athletic director for the predominantly black Hempstead school district between 2005 and 2013, said in a Brooklyn federal lawsuit.
In February 2013, he began checking grades for all the kids participating in winter sports in the district, such as basketball, wrestling and indoor track, and informing coaches of who would not be allowed to play, Cincotta, who is white, says in court papers.
The effort prompted a call from the superintendent’s assistant, who slammed him as a “racist” and told him he was “trying to hurt black kids,” Cincotta alleges.
By May 2013, school officials told Cincotta, who began working in Hempstead schools in 1985, that his job had been eliminated for “economic reasons,” although the district continued to hire new employees, he claims.
Cincotta is seeking unspecified damages in his discrimination claim against the district, which declined to comment.
http://nypost.com/2015/08/30/racist-long-island-athletic-director-fired-for-enforcing-eligibility-rules-lawsuit/
