A Carter County school teacher has filed a lawsuit against the Carter County School Board and Director of Schools Kevin Ward after being suspended from his teaching position for three days in May.
The teacher, Kevin Kendall, in his petition for writ of certiorari filed this week in Carter County Chancery Court is seeking a trial and full back pay for the period of his suspension
Kendall, who holds tenure in the Carter County School System, alleges in the lawsuit that he was suspended without pay from his employment with the Carter County School System for three days, beginning Wednesday, May 25, and extending through Friday, May 26. However, his pay was reinstated for one day — May 25, because he was at work for most of that day.
In a letter from Carter County Director of Schools Dr. Kevin Ward, Kendall was notified of his suspension because of “neglect of duty and unprofessional conduct.” Kendall allegedly was found to be sleeping on the job. The letter in part read: “You were made aware verbally of the allegations made by support staff who found you in your classroom with the blinds drawn, the lights out, and a makeshift bed on the floor. Gary Bailey stated that you came up from behind the desk where the bed was. All three witnesses stated that you had a disheveled appearance. Gary Bailey exclaimed to Andrew O’Neil, ‘I couldn’t believe Mr. Kendall was asleep on the floor in a classroom.’”
The letter further read: “Your planning time is made available to you for work duties and not for sitting back and relaxing. Also, as part of your duties, you were supposed to be at the park for the athletic awards program during this time.”
In a hearing on June 9, John Allen, a representative of the Tennessee Education Association, noted that he received documents from Ward and the school board noting that three members of the department’s technical staff stated they came into Kendall’s classroom and found him sleeping. However, Allen said after further review of the statements by the three, none of them went into Kendall’s room and found him sleeping.
Kendall, according to Allen, claims that he wasn’t sleeping, but that he was reading a book. He alleges that the bean bag and blanket had been in Kendall’s room all year and he used it to read. Allen also claimed that Kendall had planned to later go to the park and give out some awards.
Kendall in his remarks to the board said he did not bring any appropriate clothing for the park, and did not want to stay at the park all day in his work clothes. It being the end of the school year, Kendall said, “I had all my stuff done, all my grades turned in, my books were turned in, my inventories were done, I had my awards ready to go. I was just sitting back and just relaxing, enjoying not having students at the end of the year. I was not asleep.”
In his petition, Kendall contends that the Director of Schools did not provide him with any explanation of the evidence supporting the decision to suspend, or with copies of any document relied upon in reaching the suspension decision, all as required by state law.
The petition claims the school system director’s actions were “arbitrary, capricious, or improperly motivated.”
Kendall is being represented by the law firm of Kay, Griffin, Enkema & Colbert of Nashville.