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Teacher accuses principal of sexual harassment in lawsuit

Times-Tribune - 12/11/2018

Dec. 11--KNOX COUNTY -- A special education teacher at Lynn Camp Elementary School has filed a federal lawsuit against the Knox County Board of Education accusing a principal of sexual harassment and retaliating against her by failing to accommodate her disabilities, also claiming the superintendent did nothing to remedy the situation.

The lawsuit was filed last week in U.S. District Court on behalf of Melinda Abner, of Laurel County, which alleges that Lynn Camp High School Principal Anthony Pennington began engaging Abner in repeated sexual harassment in 2014 by "stating/sending inappropriate sexual remarks and request." The suit further alleges that Pennington would place his hands on Abner's body, pull her onto his lap and push "his erect penis against her."

When Abner, who worked at Lynn Camp High School when the incidents began, rejected Pennington's advances, he retaliated against her by "threatening her job, monitoring her actions, assigning her difficult and disproportionate amount of work and refusing to provide reasonable accommodation required for her disabilities," according to the lawsuit.

Abner suffers from a number of ailments, the lawsuit claims, including fibromyalgia, migraines, anxiety and irritable bowel syndrome.

The lawsuit claims that Abner requested reasonable accommodations for her conditions in January 2017, which would allow her to continue to adequately perform the essential functions of her job. Abner was allowed to meet with Kristen Parsons, one of the school district's 504 coordinators, who is responsible for assuring that the district is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, however, the lawsuit alleges that Parsons "ignored some of Abner's requests and made fun of her for others."

Abner was not granted the accommodations she requested and, according to the lawsuit, was reassigned to a classroom that further debilitated her disabilities. She made multiple requests for her accommodations to be met, but each time was either ignored, berated or retaliated against.

From the time of her request in January 2017 the retaliation against her continued, with her allegedly being assigned "almost twice the number of special education students and more than three times the number of substitutions for other teachers than in the previous year" in fall 2017, despite substituting not being part of Abner's typical duties.

In addition, Abner was required to report incidents in which her disabilities caused her to be late or leave early and use sick leave or make up the missed time, even though non-disabled and male teachers were not required to do the same, the lawsuit states. Her planning period was also moved from the end of the school day during sixth period to fifth period, preventing her from leaving if necessary, and she was given after-school duties.

Pennington allegedly began watching Abner's movements on the school's video monitoring system, questioning her each time she left a classroom or went to a restroom and "criticized and embarrassed" her in front of co-workers.

The continued retaliation eventually led to an extensive sick leave from October 2017 to August 2018. When she returned, she was demoted from her position at Lynn Camp High School and relocated to Lynn Camp Elementary School, the lawsuit claims. She was moved to a shared classroom with a desk that was allegedly full of dead cockroaches and was not permitted to take her computer or personal items though other school employees without disabilities had allegedly always been permitted to do so when being assigned to a new classroom.

After her return to work, Abner was also required to monitor the elementary school foyer each morning, where Pennington, who works at the high school, was also assigned, according to the lawsuit. During that time, Pennington allegedly continued to watch and harass Abner.

In September 2018, Abner suffered an injury on the job when a filing cabinet was pushed by a student, landing on her arm. The injury resulted in her missing several days of work due to doctor appointments and mandatory treatments, though the suit claims that Abner was denied health insurance until January 2019, also alleging that no other employee has ever been denied or delayed health insurance coverage.

Abner notified Superintendent Kelly Sprinkles of the ongoing harassment and retaliation in an email in August 2018, according to the lawsuit. The issue was later reported to Sharon Oxendine with the Kentucky Education Association, who contacted Sprinkles concerning Pennington's alleged sexual harassment, but no actions were taken by Sprinkles.

The Times-Tribune contacted Frank Shelton, director of district communications and system governance for Knox County Schools, Monday concerning the lawsuit and allegations. The following statement was provided:

"Knox County Public Schools has received correspondence regarding possible litigation from a current employee. The school district's legal council was sent a copy of the correspondence for their review. At this time we are unable to provide comment on the matter as it involves a current employee."

As part of the lawsuit, Abner is seeking all wages, benefits, compensation and other monetary losses suffered due to the harassment and retaliation, including her former position, salary seniority level, compensatory and punitive damages and attorney fees.

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