DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS

State education law (section 3020-a) provides for the disciplining or termination of a tenured teacher for specific charges, such as incompetence, insubordination, corporal punishment, sexual misconduct, etc. Despite many attempts to undercut it, state law also requires due process so that educators cannot be terminated or disciplined unfairly.
If your principal tells you that you are being brought up on any of those charges, inform the chapter leader immediately so the union can provide you with legal representation at the 3020a hearing, which will be conducted by either a single arbitrator or a panel. If the charges are sustained, the discipline may range from fines to suspension to the loss of your job or even your teaching license.
In some cases, teachers awaiting such charges are removed from their schools and assigned to Temporary Reassignment Centers until their cases are adjudicated. In that case, you must be formally charged within six months or returned to your school. You are paid during this time unless you have been charged with sexual misconduct with a student or minor, or a felony involving firearms, drugs on your job, or any crime involving physical abuse of a student or minor. If you are charged with any of these, the DOE can ask for a hearing to decide whether or not you can be suspended without pay.
Also see Summons.