NEW YORK — A New York teacher who said she had seizures on a regular basis has been removed from her teaching job, CBS News has learned.
In an email obtained by CBS News, Jennifer Cooper, 34, wrote she had epilepsy, and that she was having seizures on an annual basis.CBS News confirmed with Cooper’s attorney, Brian Whelan, that the former teacher has been placed on administrative leave pending a final decision from the school board.
“She has been a great role model for our entire family,” Whelaan said.
Cooper was placed on leave at the end of January after a school district spokeswoman told CBS News that the district was conducting an investigation into Cooper’s claims of having epilepsy and that her actions were “completely unacceptable.”
Cooper’s lawyer, Brian Waite, told CBS New York she had “been told by several family members that she had had a seizure.”CBS News was told that the school district was unable to determine whether Cooper had a medical condition.
Coordinated by the Department of Health and Human Services, the investigation found that Cooper lied about the severity of her seizures and her diagnosis of epilepsy, the school’s superintendent, Paul Siegel, told the station.
Copper had been working as a special education teacher for the Brooklyn Public School District for seven years.