A principal who works for Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) filed a lawsuit against the school district after she endured years of “degrading behavior from a JCPS official as she worked to fix a nightmare of a school situation.” The suit was filed by Lawanda Hazard, the principal of Kerrick Elementary. In her lawsuit, Hazard alleges she endured “racial, gender, disability discrimination, and retaliation.” JCPS is listed as the sole defendant, though many of the allegations included in the suit involve Glenn Baete, “Hazard’s former assistant superintendent.”
A principal who works for Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) filed a lawsuit against the school district after she endured years of “degrading behavior from a JCPS official as she worked to fix a nightmare of a school situation.” The suit was filed by Lawanda Hazard, the principal of Kerrick Elementary. In her lawsuit, Hazard alleges she endured “racial, gender, disability discrimination, and retaliation.” JCPS is listed as the sole defendant, though many of the allegations included in the suit involve Glenn Baete, “Hazard’s former assistant superintendent.”
According to the lawsuit, Hazard, who is an African-American woman, claims that “Baete, a white man, routinely berated and degraded her in their interactions over nearly three years.” She began her job as a principal for the school district back in 2015 and inherited what she described as “an absolute nightmare in the labor force.”
During her time in the position, Hazard spent time spent time inspecting “every role, investigated teachers for abuse and saw at least one teacher be removed for coming to school high on drugs.” According to the suit, she was up against a “corrupt and inadequate system,” and her efforts to remedy the situation “went wholly unrecognized.” In fact, instead of being recognized for her efforts, she received backlash from Baete, who was her supervisor at the time. For example, he often “berated her leadership skills, and used work evaluations to reflect his views in an outrageous and absurd fashion.”
Other allegations mentioned in the lawsuit include claims that Baete was often “kinder to white males.” Additionally, she noted in her suit that another African-American woman employed with JCPS “reported similar issues with Baete” during a personal conversation. To make matters worse, Hazard’s suit alleges that Baete “made it clear he cared very little about” her and made it known that “he supported someone else for her job.”
Baete even allegedly began encouraging “other employees to make false, retaliatory and harassing complaints about her,” according to the suit. For example, the suit claims that “after she formally disciplined an assistant principal at the school, the AP filed unsubstantiated complaints as an act of alleged retaliation.” Later on, it was discovered that at least one of the complaints was “completely fabricated.”
As a result of the treatment and toxic work environment, Hazard allegedly began experiencing anxiety and even had to use “a heart monitor at one point.” According to the suit, at one point the “medical issues made her feel uncomfortable evaluating the assistant principal one-on-one, but Baete told her it was JCPS policy to hold evaluations and to do so in that manner.” However, the suit contends “it was not JCPS policy.”
At one point, Hazard wrote an email to Baete explaining how the treatment was affecting her. It said:
“There has been one disappointment after another. Through it all, I have always tried to do the right thing. The personal attacks, schemes and allegations have resulted in ongoing harassment and emotional trauma.”
Eventually, Baete was transferred to “working with high schools last summer” during a district realignment. However, even though his absence has given Hazard some relief, her record is tarnished from the poor evaluations and her “physical health is fragile.”
As part of her lawsuit, Hazard is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial.
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