Background

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined last year that Greece Central School District didn't act properly in its treatment of five teachers. Three of those teachers have now filed a lawsuit.

Greece's school board hired an educational consultant to review the cases and determine whether the district acted improperly.

The board also placed Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan and two other top administrators on paid leave. Keller-Cogan has appealed that decision to the state Department of Education.

January 11, 2006
3 teachers file age bias suit against Greece district
Federal agency earlier saw probable cause to support claim
Meaghan M. McDermott, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
Staff writer

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GREECE  Three retired teachers filed suit Tuesday against the Greece Central School District, alleging that they were discriminated against on the basis of their age.

According to a news release from their attorney, Richard A. Dollinger of Underberg & Kessler LLP, all three teachers, Evelyn Krane, Carole Giordano and Cheryl Livoti, were reading specialists who retired in 2004 after "a series of unwarranted and unjustified criticisms of their teaching skills and performance in the District."

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission determined last year that there was probable cause to support the charges by the three teachers, as well as charges by two others not party to the suit.

According to the release, the lawsuit not only makes claims of age discrimination against the district, but also makes individual claims against three district administrators: Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan, former Superintendent Steven L. Walts and former English Language Arts Director Kathleen Pagano-Fuller.

Keller-Cogan, Pagano-Fuller  now an assistant superintendent  and Human Resources Executive Director Brian Ladewig were placed on paid leave late last year while Berry Consulting Services conducted an independent inquiry into the claims on behalf of the Greece Board of Education.

The board received the Berry report Dec. 21 but has not yet taken any action on the matter. No staffer has ever been identified as a target of that inquiry.

During its regular meeting on Tuesday, school board President Ken Walsh announced the lawsuit and said that the board would meet in public session at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 19, "for the purpose of the board determining the employment relationship with Dr. Keller-Cogan."

Also during Tuesday's meeting, the board acknowledged receipt of both a notice of claim and a notice of petition from Keller-Cogan.

The notice of claim, which can be a precursor to a lawsuit, claims breach of contract, violation of due process, discipline without cause and defamation.

The notice of petition is Keller-Cogan's appeal to the state Commissioner of Education claiming that the school board's decision to place her on leave violated state law and her employment contract.

Some board members said the EEOC lawsuit filed Tuesday made it less likely the public would get to see the Berry report.

"The report needs to be held in confidence until all the litigation is completed," said Walsh, adding that the board believed the report was subject to attorney-client privilege.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, when parent Julia Van Orman urged that the report be made public, board member Frank Oberg answered bluntly:

"The Berry report is not going to be released to the public, so stop asking for it," he said. "You're not going to see it."

He later added that he didn't want to foster "false hope" in the community that the report would be made public anytime soon.

But board members Larry Sweet and William Russell argued that the report should be released, although a motion to release the report did not get enough votes to pass.

"People want to see this report, and I think we owe it to the public," said Russell.

"They have a right to look at it; they paid for it."

MCDERMOT@DemocratandChronicle.com