A Bronx teaching assistant and US Army reservist who spent Hurricane Sandy rescuing people s🐽tranded in high floodwaters only to be fired by he𝔉r principal for missing school in the aftermath of the historic storm is suing the Department of Education to get her job back.
Ninfa Soto, 46, began teaching at PS 67 in West Farms in 1988 and enlisted🌃 in the Army in 1992. She served with the Army during the Bosnia civil war, Operation Iraqi Freedom and after 9/11, according to her Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
The Army activated Soto for Hurricane Sandy on Oct. 29 and spent the next month working 16-hour shifts patrolling with cops to prevent looting, dis♕tributing food and water to shelters and cleaning up downed trees and debris, the suit states.
Sotoꦓ reported her ⛎absences to the DOE as best she could during the storm and turned in a memo from her commanding officer explaining why she was gone when she returned, the suit states.
She also called in sick ෴Nov. 21 “due to illness related to her military service during Hurricane Sandy,” the suit states.
School administrators lost the memo and when Soto turned in a new one, school principal Jeffrey Santiago reported her to the special commissioner for invest🐽iga♕tions for submitting false documents – all because of a typo in the new letter related to whether her Nov. 21 absence was a sick day or an active military absence, according to the lawsuit.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Soto attorney Jason Wolf.
The DOE’s Special Commissioner for Investigation foundཧ that Soto purposely submitted false doc🍷umentation to explain her absence on Nov. 21 and she was fired May 31, the suit states.
“Principal Santiago filed a comp⛄laint with SCI in bad faith and as a pretext for il🔥legal discrimination due to petitioner’s military status,” the suit claims.
The suit notes t🐼hat Santiago had prior animus against Soto – claiming that whenꦦ the two first met Santiago said, “So you’re the one who has been out for 50 days.”
Soto is seeking her job back and back pay.
A city Law Department spokeswoman declined to comment except to say, “We will review the allegations in the complaint upon receipt.”