Dirty, Dirty Frisco Texas...
A former high school teacher from Texas has won a major victory in his racial discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against the Frisco Independent School District following a ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the teacher's claims are valid and should be heard by a jury.
Alvin Jackson, a world history teacher and the only black coach at Frisco High School at the time, filed the lawsuit in 2012 after being notified that his contract would not be renewed. In a ruling issued June 15, the 5th Circuit found that Mr. Jackson's claims were valid under both federal and state law, and overturned a 2014 summary judgment issued by the U.S. District Court in Sherman that dismissed the case in the school district's favor.
"We are very happy with the result," said Mr. Jackson's lawyer, Matthew Scott of the Kendall Law Group in Dallas. "We are confident that once a jury hears the same evidence heard by the court of appeals, then it, too, will conclude that former Frisco High School principal Sylvia Palacios, Assistant Principal Cade Smith and numerous other district administrators unlawfully discriminated against Mr. Jackson because of his race and his reports of race discrimination."
According to the lawsuit, problems began immediately after Mr. Jackson reported – first to Mr. Smith and later to Ms. Palacios – race discrimination by another coach. Both Mr. Smith and Ms. Palacios told Mr. Jackson to say nothing, and then began a series of negative reviews of his teaching skills despite both giving him positive reviews just months before his report of discrimination.
In January 2012, Ms. Palacios told Mr. Jackson that he was "not a good fit" for Frisco ISD and recommended that he would be better suited for Dallas ISD. Ms. Palacios offered Mr. Jackson a positive letter of recommendation if he would simply resign. When Mr. Jackson refused, Ms. Palacios and Mr. Smith orchestrated his termination.
The Kendall Law Group is a trial firm that represents people in lawsuits against companies, in cases involving employment discrimination, securities fraud and other issues. Visit the firm's website athttp://www.kendalllawgroup.com.
