Opinion ID: 627142
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Incidents Dass Claims Are Direct Evidence of Discrimination

Text: Dass sets forth the following evidence as direct evidence she was discriminated against based on her national origin: (1) Jeske's alleged statement telling Dass to look for a teaching job on the North Side where most of the Indian kids go; (2) Jeske's vehement opposition to Dass's grievance; (3) Jeske's refusal to assign Dass to an open third-grade class and instead assigning her to a seventh-grade class; and (4) Jeske's decision to send her assistant principal to formally observe and report on Dass, three times in one day, shortly after Dass started teaching the seventh-grade class.
Jeske met with Dass several days after the April 28, 2006 observation to discuss the evaluation of Dass. Dass testified that during this meeting Jeske stated that Dass should start looking for a job on the North Side where most of the Indian kids go. Jeske denies making the comment, but on review of a grant of summary judgment against Dass, we must accept Dass's testimony as true.
Each year, a list of teachers that are classified as a probationary assigned teacher (PAT) [3] is sent to all principals so that the principals can decide which PATs they wish to retain and which they wish to non-renew. The Board's Human Resource Department (HR Department) erroneously misclassified Dass as a temporary assigned teacher (TAT) [4] . Therefore, Dass did not appear on the list of PATs sent to Jeske in the spring of 2006. Declining student enrollment projections for the 2006-2007 school year cost Casals six teaching positions. Dass was one of the six teachers displaced by Human Resources because of being erroneously misclassified as a TAT rather than a PAT. Jeske had no role in the misclassification of Dass as a TAT or the displacement that resulted from that misclassification. Dass filed a grievance challenging the misclassification and displacement. While Jeske eventually learned Dass had been erroneously classified as a TAT, Jeske still objected to Dass's return to Casals. In Jeske's view, if it were not for the misclassification of Dass, Jeske could have non-renewed Dass in the spring of 2006. Jeske sent several emails to the Board's HR Department in which she indicated her desire that Dass not be returned to Casals. One email stated, If Dass is truly a PAT I should have been able to simply non-renew her. Believe me I have tried everything possible to do so. Another email stated, I have the Department of Justice breathing down my back and need to hire a Spanish bilingual teacher before my November 1 audit. Dass contends that these comments, combined with Jeske's alleged comment that Dass should teach on the North Side where the Indian kids go to school and her vigorous opposition to Dass being rehired at Casals, show Jeske's discriminatory intent. The Board agreed that Dass had been misclassified and should be returned to Casals.
Upon Dass's return to Casals in November 2006, Jeske assigned Dass to teach a seventh-grade class, even though there was an open third-grade class. That seventh-grade class had been taught by Carla Miller from August 2006 until September 2006 and Erin Yost, who took over the class from Miller and taught it until Dass's November 2006 reinstatement and assignment to the class. When Dass returned, Jeske reassigned Yost to the open third-grade class. Dass alleges that Jeske manipulated the situation by reassigning Yost to the third grade so that Jeske could assign Dass to the seventh-grade class, which Dass alleges had proven itself to be very difficult to discipline. Dass opines that Jeske, knowing that Dass had trouble with discipline while teaching a fifth-grade class during the 2005-2006 school year, assigned Dass to the seventh-grade class so Dass would be more likely to fail than if she were assigned to the teach the third gradea grade Dass argues she excelled at teaching in prior years. Jeske offered several reasons for assigning Dass to the seventh-grade class rather than to the open third-grade class. [5] Among Jeske's reasons were that: (1) even before Dass was reinstated at Casals, Jeske had planned on moving Yost to the third grade and requesting a teacher with a bilingual Spanish endorsement to teach the seventh grade so that Casals could comply with an upcoming audit; (2) input she received from Lead Literacy Teacher, Renee Mackin, indicated Dass had serious problems when she previously taught third grade; (3) Yost, who Jeske considered a much stronger teacher than Dass, was needed in third grade because it is a bridge year, or critical testing year, [6] and seventh grade was not; and (4) Yost had been trained in DIBELS and Reading First, two new programs for kindergarten through third grade that Dass had not been trained in (according to defendants, the Casals administration did not view Dass as a good candidate for the Reading First Program given Dass's lack of training in the DIBELS assessment that corresponded with the program and her difficulty in maintaining order in her classroom). Further, at her deposition, Jeske was asked whether any consideration was given as to what was best for the seventh-grade class when assigning Dass and reassigning Yost. Jeske responded, Yes, I needed a teacher that had qualification to teach science, and Mrs. Dass is highly qualified in science, in physical science, general science, and biological science. Jeske also stated that she decided a primary grade assignment would be more appropriate for Yost. Some of the male students in the seventh-grade class had made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature to Yost. In response to Jeske's explanations, Dass pointed out that Yost had never taught the third grade before. Moreover, Yost had discipline issues in the classroom and struggled with classroom management. In her response to defendants' statement of uncontested facts, Dass also claimed that Yost was not trained in the Reading First Program until after she was reassigned to the third grade at Casals. We note that Yost was not renewed after the 2006-2007 school year. At her deposition, Jeske testified she did not renew Yost because in [seventh] grade, she didn't have much success. And I knew that the next year, whoever was going to come back, was going to have [seventh] grade. She did a pretty good job or a better job, I would say, in [third] grade than she did in [seventh], but I need seventh grade teachers, so I didn't renew her either. Of further note is the fact that after Dass took a medical leave of absence in December 2006, a Ms. Provost took over Dass's seventh-grade class on a full-time substitute basis. Jeske did not renew Ms. Provost after the 2006-2007 school year.