A Bronx gym teacher claims she was fired from her job because she turned down a threesome with a fellow gym teacher and her boyfriend. Carisa Gaylardo says in a lawsuit that she was fired from Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy last year due to the efforts of tenured gym teacher Sofia Memos, who waged a campaign against her after Gaylardo rejected repeated advances.
Gaylardo claims that Memos "propositioned [her] by text message and in person to engage in an inappropriate romantic and salacious relationship with her and her boyfriend." About a month after Gaylardo said thanks but no thanks, Gaylardo claims Memos and a second gym teacher created a false story about Gaylardo having an inappropriate relationship with a student.
A schools investigation found that Gaylardo and the teen had traded 1,000 text messages between February and March of 2013. But Gaylardo says she was just a mentor to the teen, who was juggling three sports and school—and both the teen and the teen's mother came to Gaylardo's defense, filing affidavits supporting the teacher.
“It is wrong that such a good person...is suffering simply for helping me with my struggles,” the teen wrote. Her mom added that Gaylardo is "a blessing to my daughter and the rest of our family...She is the greatest role model in my daughter's life."
But Memos wrote in her complaint to school officials that, "I have observed a rapport between them that had made me feel uncomfortable." She called their behavior "flirtatious" and added: "Gaylardo’s unprofessionalism has only encouraged it by allowing (the student) to come into our office on many occasions to just chat. I have witnessed them giggling and laughing together many times."
Gaylardo contends that she was put on a list of people not eligible to teach in city schools because of Memos' accusations and "simply on the frequency of communications without any finding of inappropriate contact or intent."
