EAST ST. LOUIS – Former East St. Louis school district employee Yvette Jackson deserves trial on a claim that the school board fired her improperly, U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle ruled on Nov. 22.
Yandle decided a jury could reasonably find that board members retaliated against Jackson and the reasons the members gave were pretext.
She found board members pleaded economic necessity but saved less than $500.
She dismissed Jackson’s sexual harassment claims against superintendent Arthur Culver with prejudice on Dec. 13. She called Culver’s comments and actions sexist and offensive but found they didn’t rise to an actionable level under Seventh Circuit standards.
At the time of Jackson’s termination, in 2018, the board paid her at an annual rate of $115,287.90 to manage purchasing, transportation, and security.
She sued in 2019, alleging that she reported Culver’s comments and actions to board president Kennis Williams six times in 2017 and 2018.
She claimed Culver changed the agenda of the personnel committee to eliminate her position and changed the board’s agenda on the date of its meeting.
She claimed security guards called her to tell her the board eliminated her position.
Yandle found the board claimed her termination saved the district about $47,000.
Yandle came up with a smaller number.
“Following Jackson’s termination, the district hired Michael Hubbard as supervisor of school safety and responsibility for $73,000, promoted Norquis Cooper to supervisor of transportation and increased her salary by $10,396, and hired a transportation liaison to work directly under Cooper at a salary of $31,419,” Yandle wrote.
She added those amounts up to $114,815, for a difference of $472.90.
She found a jury could reasonably conclude that the savings were negligible.
She also found evidence that board members failed to follow Illinois School Code requirements for reductions in force, under which they should have dismissed purchasing supervisor Yulrie Tanner as Jackson’s subordinate.
Yandle has set trial in May.
Dedra Brock-Moore of Belleville and Larry Fields of St. Louis represent Jackson.
Garrett Hoerner and Timothy Hoerner of Belleville represent Culver and the board.