Lauren Miranda, a 25-year-old middle school math teacher, claims she was unfairly fired from Bellport Middle School on March 27. Miranda, who had taught at the school for almost four years, was fired after a student found a topless selfie she had previously taken.
According to the New York Post, Miranda took the photo three years ago for her romantic partner at the time who was also a teacher within the school district.
“Long ago, she sent her topless unremarkable selfie to her companion, never to anyone else,” her attorney John Ray said. “By unknown means, a student obtained it. The school district took possession of it, excoriated her, and fired her because her breasts were displayed.”
Ray also said that the decision to fire Miranda shows off a double-standard.
“Anytime a man has ever exposed his chest, no one has ever commented or had any problem with it whatsoever,” he told WABC TV. “But when a woman displays her chest, as happened here, she gets fired from her job.”
He added, “This would never have happened to a male teacher. The Suffolk County Administrators and School Board have not yet discovered that women are equal to men. Lauren is rightly proud of her female torso. A woman’s breasts are not inherently prurient.”
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The South County School District has not yet commented on her firing because they do “not comment on active litigation.”
“I loved my job. I really thought this was where I was going to spend the next 30 years of my life,” Miranda told Newsday. “Now my career has been ruined, my reputation has been tarnished, I have been stigmatized.”
Miranda is not sure if the student who obtained and shared her photo was punished. Miranda, meanwhile, is suing the district for a whopping $3 million after filing a notice of claim in the case.
