BENTON – Former East St. Louis school board employee Yvette Jackson may pursue harassment, retaliation, and termination claims against the board and its superintendent, U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle ruled on July 24.
Yandle mostly denied a motion to dismiss a suit Jackson filed against the board and superintendent Arthur Culver last year.
“Her allegations are sufficient to place defendants on notice of the claims against them,” Yandle wrote.
Jackson, former director of material management, claimed in her suit that she suffered unwelcome sexual advances from Culver.
Her lawyer Dedra Brock-Moore of Belleville alleged in the lawsuit that in 2018, Culver showed Jackson pornographic video depicting a school district employee.
Brock-Moore wrote that Jackson complained to the purchasing supervisor and was immediately ostracized from regular meetings.
“At the very next personnel committee meeting defendant Culver changed the agenda to include eliminating plaintiff’s job,” she wrote.
The lawsuit also alleges that on one occasion Culver fist bumped Jackson’s thigh, and that on another occasion he asked Jackson if she lost weight on purpose and Jackson stated she lost weight due to stress on the job.
School board counsel Garrett Hoerner of Belleville moved to dismiss all claims, and Yandle allowed the central claims to proceed.
Yandle wrote that Jackson alleged a supervisor subjected her to lewd comments and behavior, sexually graphic material, unwanted touching, and other conduct over the course of several years.
She wrote that Jackson complained about this conduct and was constructively discharged or her employment was terminated as a result.
She dismissed without prejudice a claim of racial discrimination under federal law, and dismissed with prejudice a claim that the school board violated Illinois gender violence law.