BENTON – East St. Louis school board and former administrator Yvette Jackson settled her retaliation suit on May 4, five days before U.S. District Judge Staci Yandle would have started trial.
Settlement relieved Yandle from deciding whether jurors would hear a recording of conversation between Jackson and board member Kinnis Williams.
Jackson listed it among her exhibits on April 29, and the board moved to exclude it on that date.
The board terminated her as director of purchasing, transportation, and security, a position paying $115,287.90, in 2018.
They passed a resolution of honorable discharge, classifying it as a reduction in force due to economic necessity.
She sued in 2019, claiming superintendent Arthur Culver sexually harassed her and the board fired her because she complained about it.
She claimed a reduction in force should have required discharge of her subordinate Yulrie Tanner.
Yandle ruled last November that Culver’s conduct didn’t rise to the level of actionable harassment under Seventh Circuit standards.
She denied summary judgment for the board on retaliation.
She wrote that a jury could reasonably find that economic necessity was a pretext.
She found evidence that termination saved the district $500 and evidence that the board failed to follow requirements for reductions in force.
Former magistrate judge Stephen Williams led a mediation session and on April 5, he notified Yandle that no agreement resulted.
On April 7, board counsel Garrett Hoerner of Belleville moved to bar evidence of specific incidents of harassment.
He claimed it would unfairly prejudice the board, mislead the jury, and waste time.
He claimed that if incidents were allowed into evidence, the board would have to defend itself against a claim they already successfully defended.
On April 25, Jackson’s counsel Larry Fields of St. Louis responded that he didn’t intend to introduce specific incidents.
“Plaintiff does, however, intend on introducing evidence that sexual harassment occurred and is the basis for plaintiff’s retaliation claim,” he wrote.
Also on April 25, Hoerner filed a trial brief claiming Jackson never reported allegations to her superior, chief financial officer Nick Mance.
He claimed she didn’t report them to human resources or invoke the internal investigative mechanism.
He claimed termination allowed the board to engage an experienced police officer to oversee district security while saving $46,722.90.
He claimed the reduction in force didn’t apply to Tanner because he was the sole employee in his category.
Two Fridays before trial, Hoerner moved to bar the conversation between Jackson and Williams and other evidence that Fields didn’t initially disclose.
Five days before trial, Jackson and the board informed Yandle that they settled.
She gave them 60 days to consummate the settlement and stated the clerk would enter judgment dismissing the action if they fail to consummate it.
Debra Brock-Moore of Belleville represents Jackson in association with Fields.
Timothy Hoerner represents the board in association with Garrett Hoerner.