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Irregular News for 10.19.06
Casper, MT - Two female coaches have filed a federal lawsuit against the Natrona County School District saying that they received harsher discipline after they let their students perform a prank than male coaches have received for worse behavior.
Sheryl Schroefel and Melisa Mahoney filed the lawsuit on Monday. They claim that the school district violated their rights under both state and federal laws.
The school district hasn't yet filed a response to the lawsuit. Superintendent Jim Lowham declined comment on the case.
The women had been girls basketball coaches at Centennial Junior High School. Their lawsuit says that they held a sleepover for players in 2002 at the school on the condition that the students remain on the school property.
However, the lawsuit states that during the sleepover, Schroefel and Mahoney allowed the students to leave the school to place toilet paper and other items on the lawns of two male coaches as a prank.
The male coaches complained, and the school district suspended each of the women coaches from teaching for 21 days and banned them from coaching for two years.
"The discipline imposed upon the plaintiffs is discriminatory," the lawsuit states. "Male coaches who engage in more egregious conduct are not disciplined."
The Wyoming Department of Employment's Fair Employment Program investigated the women's claims.
The lawsuit includes a letter from the Fair Employment Program that states, "male employees of (the district) have engaged in a laundry list of offenses, both less and far more egregious than that of (the coaches), and no one has ever received the same severity of discipline as (the coaches)."
The state agency letter lists male employee offenses including "predatory sexual behavior," using school computers to look at pornography in a classroom and leaving students alone without supervision. The letter states that those offenses resulted in at most penalties of three days of paid administrative leave for male employees.
Mahoney currently works at a private school in Casper, while Schroefel still teaches in the Natrona County School district, said their lawyer, Diane Smith.
Smith said she hopes a judge will allow her to show the Fair Employment Program's letter to a jury and said she hopes that the male employees' disciplinary records will be allowed in as evidence.
source
Casper, MT - Two female coaches have filed a federal lawsuit against the Natrona County School District saying that they received harsher discipline after they let their students perform a prank than male coaches have received for worse behavior.
Sheryl Schroefel and Melisa Mahoney filed the lawsuit on Monday. They claim that the school district violated their rights under both state and federal laws.
The school district hasn't yet filed a response to the lawsuit. Superintendent Jim Lowham declined comment on the case.
The women had been girls basketball coaches at Centennial Junior High School. Their lawsuit says that they held a sleepover for players in 2002 at the school on the condition that the students remain on the school property.
However, the lawsuit states that during the sleepover, Schroefel and Mahoney allowed the students to leave the school to place toilet paper and other items on the lawns of two male coaches as a prank.
The male coaches complained, and the school district suspended each of the women coaches from teaching for 21 days and banned them from coaching for two years.
"The discipline imposed upon the plaintiffs is discriminatory," the lawsuit states. "Male coaches who engage in more egregious conduct are not disciplined."
The Wyoming Department of Employment's Fair Employment Program investigated the women's claims.
The lawsuit includes a letter from the Fair Employment Program that states, "male employees of (the district) have engaged in a laundry list of offenses, both less and far more egregious than that of (the coaches), and no one has ever received the same severity of discipline as (the coaches)."
The state agency letter lists male employee offenses including "predatory sexual behavior," using school computers to look at pornography in a classroom and leaving students alone without supervision. The letter states that those offenses resulted in at most penalties of three days of paid administrative leave for male employees.
Mahoney currently works at a private school in Casper, while Schroefel still teaches in the Natrona County School district, said their lawyer, Diane Smith.
Smith said she hopes a judge will allow her to show the Fair Employment Program's letter to a jury and said she hopes that the male employees' disciplinary records will be allowed in as evidence.
source