{"id":33090,"date":"2025-11-08T14:33:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T14:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/33090\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T14:33:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T14:33:13","slug":"3rd-former-student-accuses-fort-lee-teacher-of-touching-her-inappropriately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/33090\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd former student accuses Fort Lee teacher of touching her inappropriately"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"2H6PGOOWXJFF7IGLLAPVXB26NI\">A third woman has filed a lawsuit against the Fort Lee school district, alleging a now-retired teacher repeatedly sexually harassed her when she was a student more than seven years ago. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"RWAATK4JTBGSNG5DNG5GKYMSWQ\">The now 22-year-old woman, who is not being named by NJ Advance Media, alleges Howard B. Sidorsky inappropriately touched her on many occasions when she was an 8th grader at Lewis F. Cole Middle School during the 2017-2018 school year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"RDMO6HQ2FJDK5HZLLLYFQ36L24\">Interim Fort Lee Schools Superintendent Diane Collazo and two board of education members didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment from NJ Advance Media. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"ID7KWEZ5PZCQZI4CA5IJ2HEIFY\">The lawsuit alleges the student was subjected to \u201csexual overtures, sexual harassment, abuse, assault, offensive touching and contact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"YV5EWRYVOJBD3OOHLQOT2QSZ7I\">In addition to groping the girl\u2019s thigh inappropriately, the teacher touched her neck, back and bra strap, the suit alleges. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"VPC623KQIJHBFPATKE6NPM54Y4\">The teacher also made inappropriate comments, telling her \u201cyou look good\u201d and \u201cyou look sexy baby\u201d according to the suit. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"QOVQWJZOA5CIPLVAUNNXXXQM3I\">Besides touching the girl inappropriately at school, he also made physical contact with her at a community center, the lawsuit alleges. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"WEQZAF2FUZBMRH5TPLQY3Y3A5U\">Sidorsky also allegedly gave her preferential treatment by sending answers to tests to her cell phone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"TUUJYOXXCNEMLO7OIS5HYGF3TI\">The lawsuit claims the school district knew or should have known about Sidorksy\u2019s behavior and didn\u2019t protect the girl.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"4YN7TUEBBZHGLDT5VN4NIQ7QXY\">Last year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/education\/2024\/03\/our-teacher-groped-us-and-nj-district-did-nothing-2-ex-students-allege-in-lawsuit.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nj.com\/education\/2024\/03\/our-teacher-groped-us-and-nj-district-did-nothing-2-ex-students-allege-in-lawsuit.html\">two other former students sued the Fort Lee school district<\/a>, alleging Sidorsky also harassed and touched them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"YUUURSEKGBFYFIPCBBV36FR4DY\">Filed in March 2024, the lawsuit claims Sidorsky victimized one student in 2012 and the other in 2017. One student was in seventh grade and the other was in eighth grade when the incidents occurred, the lawsuit alleges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"F6P7RBA6CBDBHEHDU4MYB6RGSE\">After a municipal court found Sidorsky guilty of harassment in 2018, the teacher filed an appeal in state court, according to court records. The state court upheld the guilty verdict in 2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"JBILDYRCIRASXE264IOL2JOEDU\">He then appealed to the state Superior Court\u2019s Appellate Division in 2020, where a panel of three judges said \u201cthere is no reason to disturb defendant\u2019s conviction for harassment,\u201d according to a copy of the opinion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"XUJ4MFHCYNEVHE4LJUW3PL2GUU\">Sidorsky was placed on paid leave by the school district in 2018. He had his teaching certification revoked by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.gov\/education\/legal\/examiners\/2020\/1819-197.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">State Board of Examiners<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"DDFZMMOEQJAULASMPGGNDDM4Y4\">He was approved in 2020 by the Public Employees\u2019 Retirement System Board to receive a deferred retirement effective Feb. 1, 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"FYVS23UY35GSTK4MFK7VZMU2IA\">Both of the women who sued in 2024 said they suffer from anxiety, depression and continued emotional distress as a result of the sexual abuse they experienced.<\/p>\n<p>If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/user-agreement.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancelocal.com\/advancelocalUserAgreement\/privacy-policy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A third woman has filed a lawsuit against the Fort Lee school district, alleging a now-retired teacher repeatedly&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-33090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}