Nothing happened - except that Brown publicly criticized his teaching skills, the suit says. Aitken was subsequently brought up on disciplinary charges, as yet unresolved, and assigned to a holding office that teachers derisively call "the rubber room."
Teachers sent to these sites while awaiting the outcome of disciplinary proceedings do not do any work, but continue to be paid. Aitken was paid $75,572 in 2008, the most recent figure available.
"I still want to teach," Aitken said Wednesday. "I want to go back to South Philadelphia High School. Most of the people there are good people."
The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.
Brown is no longer employed by the district and could not be reached for comment.
She resigned as principal on May 13, after The Inquirer asked about her lack of state certification. In the suit, Aitken says he notified the teachers union the day before Brown quit that she lacked credentials.
The day after Brown resigned, Aitken said, two school police officers walked into his class, grabbed him by the arms and shoulders, and forcibly took him away in front of astonished students.
He was ordered to report to the comprehensive high school regional office, which the suit described as a school in name only, was assigned to sit in a windowless storage closet, and was never told why he was there, the suit says.
On June 8, he was summoned to a meeting and confronted with what he said was a false allegation that he had threatened a school police officer. He was then returned to the closet, where he continues to report, the suit says.
Some teachers can spend months assigned to administrative offices while awaiting the resolution of their cases.
