A Staten Island special education teacher has taken the New York City Department of Education to court, alleging that officials punished her for being the victim of a violent classroom assault while she was pregnant.
The Manhattan Supreme Court filing was brought by Lauren Vitale, 31, who taught kindergarten at PS 84 before her termination this year. Her case centers on an incident in January, when she was six months into her pregnancy.
According to the lawsuit, a student in her classroom attacked her without warning, spitting in her face before kicking her in the stomach later that same day.
Court papers describe the child as having a documented history of violent conduct at a previous school — history that Vitale says was never shared with her before the student was assigned to her class.
The physical toll was immediate and severe. Vitale sought treatment at a labor-and-delivery unit, where she was found to have bleeding, cramping, reduced fetal movement, and elevated blood pressure, the filing states.
Rather than treating her as a victim, Vitale alleges that school administrators moved to blame her for what happened. She says she was ultimately fired after pushing back against that response.
“They said that I could have avoided the kick to my stomach. I’m not Keanu Reeves — I can’t dodge a bullet,” Vitale told The Post.
Vitale gave birth to her daughter, who is now two months old. She described the aftermath of the attack as one of the most difficult stretches of her life.
“It’s been one of the hardest experiences of my life,” she said. “I was in fear that I was going to lose my baby.”
The lawsuit frames the January assault not as an isolated event but as the breaking point in a much longer pattern of alleged mistreatment. That pattern, Vitale claims, stretches back to before she was even hired.
During her 2023 hiring interview, Vitale alleges the principal asked whether she was planning to get pregnant “anytime soon” and laughed after posing the question.
“I was uncomfortable, but I needed a job,” she told The Post, recalling the moment.
Roughly a year later, in early 2024, Vitale says she filed a formal union complaint after a different student with a history of aggression was placed in her room. That child allegedly bit her and struck her with a curtain rod.
Vitale’s suit claims the complaint backfired on her directly.
She says the principal called her into his office, branded her a “whistleblower,” and warned her that she had “opened Pandora’s box” — language she interpreted as a threat.
The lawsuit also details how Vitale’s pregnancy became a flashpoint months before the attack. In September, she says she confided in a school guidance counselor — someone who also held a union representative role and whom she trusted as a friend — that she was expecting.
That confidence, she alleges, didn’t hold. According to the suit, word of her pregnancy reached the principal almost immediately, and he confronted her directly in her own classroom, pressing her until she confirmed it.
Within a short time, Vitale says she was placed on a formal Teacher Improvement Plan — a disciplinary designation she characterizes as retaliatory rather than performance-based.
“Once I was pregnant, I was scrutinized more, [the principal] would come and observe more, and I just felt there was a change,” she told The Post.
That heightened scrutiny, she says, set the stage for how administrators responded once the January assault occurred. Vitale recalled that the day had started without incident.
“Everything seemed perfectly fine until she then spit in my face,” she said of the student.
The kick to her stomach followed later that same day. Vitale says she later learned the student had a track record of assaulting teachers at a prior school placement — information she says she was never given.
“I felt like I was being set up,” she said.
Vitale alleges that when she returned to work days after the attack, the principal’s treatment of her shifted noticeably. He disputed her official injury report, accused her of using corporal punishment against the student, cut her pay, and denied her workplace injury claim, according to the suit.
In April, Vitale filed a grievance with her union. One week later, she says she was fired — just before she would have become eligible for tenure protections.
City officials declined to comment when reached by The Post.
Vitale is now unemployed and caring for her infant daughter at home. Despite everything, she says she wants to return to the classroom.
“I want to work with children, I want to be a teacher. I just want to be back where I belong,” she said. “I’m heartbroken by everything that’s happened.”
The lawsuit is pending in Manhattan Supreme Court.
