NYC faces lawsuit for firing pregnant teacher after student kicked her in the stomach  

A special education teacher is suing the New York City Department of Education and its school board for allegedly firing her after a violent student kicked her in the abdomen while she was pregnant.

Her lawsuit, filed July 1, alleges a persistently hostile work environment and a history of pregnancy-related discrimination.

Lauren Vitale, 31, began teaching special needs kindergarteners at a Staten Island elementary school in 2023. 

From the start, she was wary of sex-based discrimination after the principal asked her during the hiring process if she planned to become pregnant “anytime soon.”

Vitale “understood the question to mean that pregnancy, or the possibility of pregnancy, would be viewed negatively by school administration,” the lawsuit explains.

The trouble started in earnest in 2024, when Vitale complained about a student biting and hitting her with a curtain rod.

School administration labeled her a “whistleblower” and told her she had “opened Pandora’s box” by filing a complaint.

Subsequently, her performance reviews became “more negative, more frequent and more critical.”

Then, after announcing her pregnancy in the fall of 2025, Vitale immediately became the target of increased scrutiny.

“Once I was pregnant, I was scrutinized more, [the principal] would come and observe more and I just felt there was a change,” she told the New York Post.

Student attacks pregnant teacher 

On Jan. 21, 2026, a new student was placed in Vitale’s classroom without warning. The student had a history of severe violence, including “hitting, kicking, biting, scratching and running out of the classroom.”

The same day, the student attacked Vitale, who was six months pregnant, spitting in her face and kicking her in the stomach.

Vitale went to the hospital, suffered bleeding, cramping, low fetal movement and high blood pressure, and was not medically cleared to return to work.

“It’s been one of the hardest experiences of my life,” she recalled. “I was in fear that I was going to lose my baby.”

Thankfully, her daughter survived and is now 2 months old, but the school administration’s response was far from sympathetic.

“Rather than support Plaintiff after the assault,” the lawsuit says, “the principal criticized the tone of her injury report, questioned her using video footage, falsely accused her of corporal punishment, ordered her to leave the building and docked her pay.”

In April, she was fired.

Now, Vitale is suing the New York City Department of Education, alleging “unsafe and unlawful work practices” and “unlawful discrimination and retaliation” on account of her pregnancy.

She is asking the court for compensatory damages, punitive damages and reinstatement.

“I want to work with children, I want to be a teacher. I just want to be back where I belong,” she told The Post. “I’m heartbroken by everything that’s happened.”

(Image credit: Screenshot / P.S. Waels)