Teacher sues Kaneland schools over medical, sex discrimination
A teacher is suing the Kaneland school district, saying he has been discriminated against because of his sex and illness.
Richard Scott, who teachers fifth grade at Kaneland McDole Elementary School in Montgomery, filed the suit June 22 in the Northern Illinois District of the U.S. Federal Court. His wife, Debi Thomas, is a co-plaintiff.
Scott, who has been a teacher with Kaneland for 14 years, sued District 302, Superintendent Charles McCormick, associate superintendent Jeff Schuler and McDole principal Martne McCoy.
Schuler, who replaces the retiring McCormick July 1, declined to comment, saying he had not seen the lawsuit.
In the complaint, Scott alleges that, as the sole male classroom teacher, McCoy treated him differently than the other teachers in the building, "overscrutinizing" his job performance. He contends that he received good performance reviews until McCoy became assistant principal in 2007, then principal in 2008. The complaint also states that Scott was "ostracized" from the other teachers, in that he was not invited to lunches or parties to which all the female teachers were invited. His attorney, Steven Glink, said Thursday he does not believe these were official school functions, but are "examples of how he was excluded or treated differently based on gender," a violation of the federal Title IX act.
"He feels McCoy has treated him unfairly," Glink said.
The suit also alleges that the district violated Scott's civil rights under the Rehabilitation and Americans With Disabilities acts. It notes that Scott had told district officials about his "severe attention-deficit disorder and major depression." He requested a reassignment to Kaneland Middle School, but was denied.
Glink said Scott believed that, with his ADD, he would be better off teaching a single subject, as middle school teachers do, than multiple subjects, as elementary school teachers do.
The complaints state that the bad reviews and the denial of the transfer exacerbated his depression, causing him to need to be hospitalized once for treatment, and undergo outpatient treatment.
The suit also states that the defendants intentionally tried to cause emotional distress for Scott, to get him to resign, or in retaliation for Thomas' complaints to district officials about "the way they were teaching her daughters."
McCormick and Schuler are named in the suit because they "acquiesced or directly condoned" McCoy's actions.