A Bronx gym teacher says she was canned for saying “non” to a ménage a trois with her boss and her boss’ boyfriend.
Carisa Gaylardo, formerly a probationary physical education teacher at the Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy, charges in court papers that she was given an unsatisfactory rating and ultimately fired after turning down offers of a threesome with tenured gym teacher Sofia Memos.
Gaylardo said Memos propositioned her “by text message and in person to engage in an inappropriate romantic and salacious relationship with her and her boyfriend.”
Both Memos, 41, and Gaylardo refused to talk about the alleged kinky come-ons Thursday.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Gaylardo, 30, says the spurned supervisor got back at her by telling school brass that the pretty blond had a “flirtatious” relationship with a student she’d been mentoring.
Memos — who’s now listed as single on her Facebook page — made the charge in March 2013, just one month after Gaylardo “had rejected her advances,” the lawsuit says. The complaint spurred a Department of Education probe that effectively ended her six-year career in the city school system.
The investigation found Gaylardo and the teen had traded 1,000 text messages between February and March 2013.
Gaylardo told investigators there was nothing untoward about the texts — the student played three sports, and wanted advice on how to balance athletics and school.
The teen filed an affidavit on Gaylardo’s behalf.
“It is wrong that such a good person . . . is suffering simply for helping me with my struggles,” the girl, 17, wrote.
The teen’s mom, whose name is being withheld to protect her daughter’s identity, told the Daily News that she and her daughter “look up to” Gaylardo.
“She’s a great person with a great heart,” the mom said, adding she’d been well aware of how much help the teen was getting and appreciated it.
Gaylardo said she didn’t find out about Memos’ role in the investigation until a disciplinary hearing last month.
The suit says Memos filed a complaint saying the teacher’s “rapport” with the girl makes her “uncomfortable.”
She called their behavior “flirtatious,” and said “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,” the complaint said.
Gaylardo’s suit says the charges are “false” and “disconcerting because Memos herself had actually propositioned (Gaylardo) by text message.”
The suit says probers didn’t care about Memos’ motive, and they banned Gaylardo from teaching in city schools.
The suit seeks to void the finding and get her position back. A rep for the city Law Department said they’d review her claim.
Outside the middle and high school Thursday, one eighth-grade student said she had both Memos and Gaylardo in gym class last year, and it seemed like the two hated each other.
“They always had some attitude,” said the student, who wouldn’t give her name.
“I never saw them get along.”
With Kerry Burke
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