Judges Gone Wild

It was hard enough to fire a rotten publicschool teacher even before Manhattan judges got into the act — repeatedly reinstating “educators” who’d behaved quite badly.

As The Post’s Julia Marsh reported Wednesday, the trend began when Judge Alice Schlesinger upheld the unfair-firing claims of two teachers caught topless in a classroom tryst. Letting the two go, she ruled, “shocked the conscience.”

That’s right: The misbehavior wasn’t shocking; taking away jobs over it was.

The state Court of Appeals set the “shock” standard back in the ’70s — in order to stop judges from overruling the judgment of city school officials, who are responsible for both teachers and students. Judges were to nix terminations only if they were plainly outrageous.

Now Schlesinger has flipped the rule — essentially because she’s shocked at the idea of anyone losing their job over some fun. And because that first decision was upheld on appeal, other judges have started to follow suit.

One judicial snowflake saved the job of a Brooklyn high-school teacher who — while on jury duty — brought heroin to court in a backpack.

Another jurist reinstated a Park Slope educator who’d been fired for regularly asking students to line him up with dates with their adult relatives.

And Schlesinger herself extended the absurdity by saving the job of a teacher who’d been repeatly found incompetent, faked grades and brought a knife to school, among other misconduct. Why? The teacher was “beloved” and “had 27 years of experience under her belt.”

The city last month moved to appeal that decision: Let’s hope it can turn the trend around.

“The legal system seems bent on protecting the rights of teachers to extraordinary degrees and leaves the students vulnerable,” noted James Copland, director of legal policy at the nonpartisan Manhattan Institute.

Sorry: There’s nothing harsh about firing employees after months of arbitration hearings and testimony that establishes good cause for termination. Nor do these judges seem to be considering the best interests of New York’s children. It’s pretty appalling when it’s the behavior of

judges that shocks the conscience.