When it comes to the Department of Education, raising money for disabled students can get you fired faster than manhandling them.
A Staten Island teacher claims she was abruptly canned last year after organizing a successful fund-raising campaign for her kids.
Hoping to teach home skills to her severely autistic students at PS 721R in New Dorp, special-education teacher Eileen Pfluger announced a GoFundMe effort on Facebook to raise money for kitchen appliances.
The high school is part of the Department of Education’s District 75 program that caters to significantly challenged students.
“These are severely autistic kids,” Pfluger told The Post. “They need the necessary skills to function in society. Their parents won’t live forever and they may be excluded from great programs if they can’t cook for themselves or clean up for themselves. So it’s a big deal.”
Despite earning strong evaluations, Pfluger, a probationary teacher, was fired because administrators objected to her use of a student photo on the fund-raising Web page.
Pfluger is suing the city to have her record expunged so she can teach again.
Citing the pending legal case, the DOE declined to comment.