A former special education teacher with multiple sclerosis who had a seizure during a fire drill is suing a New Jersey board of education, claiming she was fired for taking time off for chemotherapy treatment.
Samantha Cihanowyz alleges in a lawsuit filed earlier this month that he was discriminated against for her chronic disease and that district officials did not accommodate her treatments while working at John P. Faber Elementary School in Dunellen, NJ.com reports.
The former special education teacher who was hired by the district in 2012 claims she requested to leave school early one day per month over a five-month span to see an oncologist after having a seizure during a fire drill in 2014, one year after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, according to the lawsuit.
Cihanowyz was then told by doctors in December 2015 that she needed additional chemotherapy treatments. She received approval for time off from principal Gary Lubisco via email for each cycle of treatments, which required one day off and four half-days each week, the suit claims.
Cihanowyz was later fired when she returned to school following her second set of sessions on April 11, 2016. She was told by Dunellen School Board that the district was “going in a different direction” and that she failed to grow throughout her four years as a teacher, according to the lawsuit.
But Cihanowyz claims that runs counter to her success while teaching second to seventh grade classrooms, where she got exemplary reviews until her final evaluations during the months of her treatment. Cihanowyz would have been eligible for tenure the following school year, the lawsuit claims.
Dunellen school district officials declined to comment on the lawsuit when reached by The Post on Tuesday. The discrimination lawsuit, which was filed on April 2, seeks damages and court fees, NJ.com reports.