By Monica Pryts
GREENVILLE — A former Greenville Area School District teacher who accused Jon Ross of sexual harassment in 2002 testified Monday about how he was difficult to work with.
Genna (Rossi) Zelinsky, Colorado Springs, Colo., formerly of Sharon, was questioned for 1 1/2 hours on the eighth day of testimony before the state Labor Relations Board, Pittsburgh, in Ross’ appeal of his firing from Hempfield Elementary School.
Greenville school board members on April 20 fired Ross, 48, who taught third grade, for allegedly sexually harassing his co-workers.
Ross appealed, saying he was wrongfully fired in retaliation for bringing concerns to administrators and board members while he was president of the teachers’ union.
In 2000, Mrs. Zelinsky, a substitute teacher, temporarily took over Ross’ class while he was dealing with court proceedings from another sexual harassment case, she said.
According to Herald files, Ross was acquitted in October 2000 in Mercer County Common Pleas Court of indecent assault and other charges.
A Thiel College student who was interning under Ross claimed he kissed and fondled her at his parents’ Hempfield Township home.
Mrs. Zelinsky got permission from then-principal Janet Hoffman to change some things in Ross’ classroom. She found articles in his desk called “10 ways to seduce a woman” and “10 ways to seduce a man.”
When Ross returned to teaching, Mrs. Zelinsky worked at Greenville’s East Elementary School and then at Hempfield Elementary.
She had some troubling incidents with Ross including sexual comments he made to her, sometimes in front of third-grade students, she said.
Mrs. Zelinsky gave some examples: Ross said her lipstick was sexy; he suggested she starred in a pornographic movie when he overheard her talking with another teacher about renting movies; and he told her she had a lot of different shoes and would like to “see a pair above his head,” she said.
“They were sexual ... They were advances,” she said.
His “gross” remarks made her “sick to her stomach” and she was fearful and anxious to be around him. “It made me physically ill to go there,” she said of his classroom.
She tried to tolerate his behavior and told him he was disgusting, but he didn’t stop.
She knew Ross had been acquitted of the charges in the Thiel student case and didn’t want to go through the same thing if she reported him to school officials.
On a school field trip to the symphony where she was a chaperone for the third-graders, one of the boys told Mrs. Zelinsky Ross had a crush on her.
“They are aware. They do understand,” she said of how Ross acted around her in front of the students.
The next day at school she told Ross to watch what he says. She said he asked her “So what if I have a crush on you?” and backed her up against a wall in the hallway.
Another teacher, Amanda Mathieson, witnessed that incident and reported Ross to school officials, Mrs. Zelinsky said. Mrs. Zelinsky agreed to meet with Mrs. Hoffman to talk about Ross, even though she didn’t want to.
Mrs. Hoffman said they would tell Ross to stop his inappropriate comments and advances and remain professional. It was important to Mrs. Zelinsky that Ross knew she wasn’t the one who reported him.
Mrs. Zelinsky said she came to dread seeing Ross. “I just stayed as far away as I possibly could,” she said.
She felt shunned by Ross because he didn’t include her in things like an “American Idol” contest at school or a teachers’ luncheon. At social events, he would buy everyone their first drink except her, she said.
“He was punishing me for telling my story,” Mrs. Zelinsky said.
She said she agreed to testify because what he did was wrong.
“I’m here to do the right thing. I don’t want anybody else to go through what I went through,” she said.
Mrs. Zelinsky left the district in 2007.
After her testimony, Marcus Schlegel of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, which works with the union, said “A lot of these matters have to deal with perception.”
Testimony continues at 9:30 a.m. today, when both attorneys expect to finish calling witnesses. Ross is represented by Todd Park of PSEA and the district by Pittsburgh attorney Diego Correa.
It will take about two weeks to prepare transcripts from the testimony and the attorneys will then have 30 days to submit summaries to the hearing officer, Tom Leonard, Schlegel said.
Leonard will then decide whether the district fired Ross in retaliation for protected activities while he was union president, Schlegel said.
