Housatonic teacher fired following disorderly conduct arrest

FALLS VILLAGE – A tenured teacher at the Housatonic Valley Regional High School was fired April 23 following his arrest on a disorderly conduct charge tied to an incident with a student.

At the end of a nearly six-hour meeting, much of it held in executive session, the Region One Board of Education voted unanimously to terminate the contract of John Christinat, a 65-year-old technology teacher who had been employed at the school since 2001 with no prior reported incidents.

Christinat was arrested on March 20 after turning himself in on an active arrest warrant signed March 18, stemming from a Sept. 9, 2025, incident at the high school in which a verbal altercation with a 15-year-old student turned physical.

The student is autistic, according to a statement from the teen’s father in the police report.

According to the police affidavit, Christinat told officers the student placed a cellphone within 10 inches of his face and that he tried to grab it. He said the student then pushed him to the floor.

“While on the floor, I then tried restraining [the student’s] arm and legs so that he could not continue to punch me, to effect a basket hold,” Christinat told police, adding that he had been trained in “Applied Non-Violence,” a program focused on the safe restraint of special education students, according to the police report.

Police, however, ultimately charged Christinat with disorderly conduct.

Present at the Region One meeting were board members, along with district and high school administrators, attorneys and Christinat.

Region One Superintendent of Schools Melony Brady-Shanley stated that the high school is actively seeking to hire a new technology educator.

Christinat did not respond to a request for comment.