Fired teacher who said she 'had urge to kill' her boss after an argument over furniture receives $427k in back pay

By Daily Mail Reporter

Published: | Updated:


A Boston teacher told a psychiatrist she had an 'urge to kill' the principal at her school because she was angry about the furniture assigned to her classroom.

The teacher, Teresa D. Underwood, was fired for the apparent threat but after appealing that decision she has received a payout of $427,522.71, for what would have been her salary since 2007 had she worked at the school.

The cash settlement makes Underwood the highest paid instructor in the Boston public school system in 2012, new records show.

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Threat: Teacher Teresa D. Underwood told a psychiatrist she felt an 'urge to kill' the school principal at the Curley School (pictured)

Underwood made the comment about her boss after the two had argued on the first day of school at the Curley School, in the Boston suburb of Jamaica Plain.

The teacher was unhappy with the furniture that the school had put in her classroom.

Feeling 'upset,' she sought treatment from a psychiatrist at Faulkner Hospital in September 2007, according to the Boston Herald.

She made the comment about her 'urge to kill' her boss to the psychiatrist, who reported the remark to the police.

After being placed on unpaid leave, she was fired for 'insubordination, conduct unbecoming a teacher and incapacity.'

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Treatment: The science teacher sought treatment at the Faulkner Hospital after she argued with her school principal. The hospital psychiatrist informed police of her comment about wanting to kill her boss

Her appeal of the decision was upheld in a court decision this past September on the grounds that her 'statement was plainly intended to threaten no one, and was made during an effort to seek treatment.'

The instructor, who had previously been a Grade 6 science teacher, was fired from the Curley School but is still employed in the Boston public school system.

Her 2012 payout was the back pay from what would have been her salary had she still been able to work at the school.

The teacher's union voiced their support for her effort.

'That is her money, it was taken from her, and she only got back what she lost. It only came to this because the city denied her employment for 4A years. It wasn’t the teacher’s wish not to work. She wanted to work,' Richard Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers Union said.'

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