A former high school athletic director has filed a million-dollar discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against her former employer, the Cleburne Independent School District (CISD) in Dallas, Texas.
The legal saga started, according to plaintiff Pam Lea, with her resignation from the position in early April 2015. Almost immediately after she resigned, Lea petitioned the school board to rescind her resignation, and alleged CISD Superintendent Kyle Heath forced her to either resign or be fired. While Heath opposed Lea’s reinstatement, the board sided with Lea and, by a vote of 7-0, allowed her to rescind her resignation. Despite this, Heath demoted Lea to the social studies/physical education/and health coordinator. One month later, in May 2015, Heath hired Mark Walker to be the new athletic director.
Lea first filed a charge of discrimination with the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in June 2015, alleging her age and gender were the reasons for her demotion. At the time, Heath demoted Lea, she was 65 years old. Walker was 46 years.
After the EEOC issued a right to sue letter, Lea filed a complaint in state court, where, according to attorney Matthew Scott of the Dallas employment firm of Scott | Perez LLP., she establishes “the differences between her experience and qualifications compared to those possessed by Walker. They include Lea’s three years as an athletic director to Walker’s having no prior experience as a head athletic director, Lea’s 14 years’ experience as an assistant athletic director to Walker’s four years of similar experience, and Lea’s combined 33 years’ experience as a head or assistant coach at the high school, junior college, and Division I college level, to Walker’s 20 years of coaching experience, all at the high school level.”
One of the more scathing allegations in the lawsuit is Lea’s claim that Walker did not have the credentials required by Cleburne’s own position description for the athletic director position. Specifically, Lea alleges “the position description called for applicants to have a physical education endorsement and a valid Principal/Mid-Management SBEC Certification, something Walker did not have at the time Heath hired him to replace (to Lea).” The plaintiff claimed she possessed both qualifications.
