Former Montgomery Co. teacher/coach wins $500,000 settlement in employment suit against ex-superintendent, district; agreement states no admission, denial of fault
Mt. Sterling Advocate, May 25, 2017
Settlement reached in Wallace case
By Tom Marshall
Former Montgomery County Schools’ employee Kelly Wallace has reached a $500,000 settlement in a lawsuit against former superintendent Josh Powell and the Montgomery County Board of Education.
An agreed order of settlement and dismissal with prejudice was filed April 13 in Montgomery Circuit Court. With prejudice means the suit is dismissed permanently.
As part of the settlement the defendants in the suit “neither admit nor deny liability of any sort.” The release of all claims “is made as a compromise to avoid expenses and to terminate all controversy and/or claims for injuries or damages of whatsoever kind, nature, known or unknown,” the settlement states.
The parties agree to bear their own costs.
Wallace, a former volleyball coach and physical education teacher at the high school, filed her suit in August 2014.
She claimed Powell believed she and her husband were involved with a Title IX complaint, that he disliked her husband and wanted to “get rid of her.”
She further claimed that principal Jim Dusso was directed by Powell to ensure her evaluations reflected her employment would not be renewed. The suit claimed that prior to that Wallace had received positive evaluations and there was no basis not to renew her contract.
Dusso, the suit claimed, had previously refused to alter the Evaluation Review Form and to assist Powell in his campaign and documented the conversations the pair had had regarding Wallace.
In a letter to Powell, Dusso stated that Wallace “is one of the finest health/PE teachers we have at the school, and the students cannot afford to lose her as a teacher,” the suit claimed.
Dusso, according to the suit, filed a complaint with the Kentucky Dept. of Education, the Education Professional Standards Board and the Office of Education Accountability.
Wallace alleged that a job vacancy for the position of chair of the health/PE dept. at MCHS was posted – the position she held – although she had not been informed that she was removed from the position or that there were any concerns.
After a complaint to Powell by Wallace’s attorney, the job posting was removed, the suit claimed.
In a statement to the Advocate at the time, Powell said the complaint was defamatory and placed the district in a false light. He claimed that Wallace was only employed under a one-year limited contract and her contract was not renewed because MCHS was overstaffed with four physical education teachers. She was the only one of the four who did not have tenure, he said.
Wallace also claimed that she was not given the stipend paid to dept. chairs, although she was entitled to it.
Following the Title IX complaint, Wallace claimed that Powell had vowed that her husband would “never be allowed to provide his services to the district again so long as he remained superintendent.” Wallace’s husband had provided volunteer and contract work to the district.
Wallace claimed in the suit that the nonrenewal of her contract caused “irreparable harm, including damage to her constitutionality and statutorily protected interests relating to her employment, loss of opportunity, impairment of her accumulation of time toward tenure in the school district, reputation experience and personal satisfaction, all of which cannot be remedied by money damages and warrant injunctive relief.”
She claimed to have suffered loss of wages and benefit, embarrassment, humiliation and mental and emotional distress.
The school district previously settled two other cases with former employees. Former childcare worker Jennifer Hall settled a lawsuit for $140,000 against the district, Powell and former director of childcare Kristi Carter. Former athletic director Gene Heffington received $150,000 for a “release of all claims.” He had not filed a lawsuit.
A lawsuit filed by Dusso is still pending.