PATERSON — A second-grade teacher who was fired earlier this month for insubordinate behavior, including urinating in his classroom, today called the actions against him ones of "humiliation, degradation and lies."

Ron Tuitt had his tenure removed by state Education Commissioner Christopher Cerf on April 18 after the state found the teacher once urinated in a classroom trash can, sometimes urinated in a plastic bottle and asked students to take his waste to the boys' bathroom and flush it.

Tuitt, who had taught in Paterson since 1996, said he suffers from a degenerative disability of the lower extremities, which in recent years has hampered his mobility and confined him to a wheelchair.

Tuitt is appealing his termination and said in a lengthy statement that while he once suffered a bout with incontinence inside the classroom in September 2010 due to a urinary tract infection, his students were never exposed to it.

“Unable to get to the handicap bathroom (a far distance away) I had no choice but to urinate on myself while fully clothed,” Tuitt wrote in a statement to The Star-Ledger. “At no time was any part of my lower body ever exposed nor was any student exposed to this incident. Students who normally assisted me to my van each afternoon, were told to wait outside my classroom for me behind a closed door and did so.”

He said it was the only such incident to occur, adding that it came after several requests to have his classroom reassigned to one closer to the bathroom.

“At no time during my almost fourteen years as a teacher in Paterson, did I ever ask a student to carry plastic bottles of urine to flush in the boys bathroom,” his statement said. “I cared deeply about my students and would never have exposed them to such actions.”

The 17 charges of insubordination against Tuitt also included directing students to go on personal errands for him, improperly driving students home and sending inappropriate emails to parents, according to a report on NorthJersey.com.

Tuitt did not address all of the charges specifically, but said as his condition worsened, the district made accommodations and allowances to him, which included students helping him.

“As my mobility became gradually impaired, school administrators made certain allowances and accommodations including, but not limited to, allowing students and custodial staff members to provide me with assistance in getting around the school, parking my van, helping me obtain a motorized wheelchair, bringing me my wheelchair, picking up my mail, etc,” he wrote.

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Tuitt’s appeal is being litigated in the Appellate Division of the State Superior Court. He has the full support of the Paterson Teachers’ Union, which alleges the punitive actions were taken because the former principal of School 13, where he taught, Michelle James, did not like him.

Cerf, meanwhile, maintains there was no excuse for Tuitt’s alleged behavior.

City school official praised Cerf's decision. "I'm happy the commissioner upheld this,'' Board President Christopher Irving told the Paterson Press. "We put our trust in this man to teach our children and he put them in a very unhealthy educational environment.''



The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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