Educator files motion to dismiss fabricated EPSB case due to hearing officer’s conflict of interest. More injustices occur. When will it stop?
Consider this high school football team that apparently has refs who cheat. In the video, you can see the line refs measuring the distance the football traveled during the last down. One of them appears to tug on the chain to either make sure it is fully extended the required 10 yards so as to prevent the team from moving forward with a first down. It’s not clear if this was cheating or not, but watch the second ref who then picks up the ball, moves it ever so slightly that it reaches the flag, and declares a first down for the favored team. Even if the first ref didn’t cheat the first time when he extended the rope, he didn’t say anything when his colleague moved the ball and declared a first down while he watched. In fact, the length of time in which he stared at the ground indicates he’s questioning what he just witnessed and if he should say something. That’s when the ref becomes an accomplice in the crime, regardless of his intent.
Even if the two refs are working against one another to help their respective teams win, or if they’re on the same side, it’s obvious they’re putting their thumbs on the scales and affecting the outcomes. And that’s what keeps happening here. JCPS is the ref who moved the chain the first time, making the first down that may not have even been a first down to begin with out of reach. The second ref is EPSB, but now the roles are reversed. Instead of the second ref giving the first down to the educator, they are giving it to JCPS, a team that keeps coming up short, but always managing to win. That’s what happens when the refs are biased and there’s a conflict of interest.
In a case that we’ve been following since 2018, and continued to report on in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, JCPS leaders, lawyers and others have perpetrated yet another injustice against this Black female educator. Her latest motion is to appeal to the Educational Professional Standards Board (EPSB) hearing officer, asking him to dismiss her case due to bias and conflict of interest.
Below is the motion the JCPS teacher filed on May 30, 2023. She is requesting her case be dismissed after she discovered the hearing officer, who she filed a previous motion to dismiss after he exhibited bias toward her case, has discovered yet another reason why this case should be dismissed. After refusing to recuse himself for the previous motion, the Educator discovered the biased hearing officer works for the Lexington branch of Wyatt, Tarrant and Combs. This is a conflict of interest, because it is the same law firm JCPS used to falsely accuse her, libel her and deny her rights at the local level. No wonder they are pushing so hard to make the allegations against this whistleblower stick. They’ve got an “in” with the referee, and he can move the chain, the ball, and declare a first down — and eventually a victory — for his team, because who will stop him?
EPSB -Motion - May 30, 2023Below is a screenshot of the Linked In profile, as well as the listing on a law firm directory’s website, showing that the hearing officer is indeed a partner with the same law firm that moved the chain for its team in the first place. Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs represents JCPS and has a vested interest in seeing their client’s cases followed through on.
She has notified media outlets, but her case is complex. She has contacted attorneys and notified authorities, but everyone seems to be part of the same “good old boy” network and once they realize who they are taking on, they are content looking the other way. Each one of these violations against her civil rights and right to due process has been swept under the rug and ignored for too long. Even the jury trial she was entitled to on 2-22-2022, was denied to her by unethical practices, deceit and fraud, and she deserves a chance to have her story heard!
Note: After she sent this motion via email, she received a response from the hearing officer that he will let her and the onlooking “friendly” EPSB ref know his decision, which will likely be to continue to ignore the objections of a Black educator whistleblower who has been discriminated against, retaliated against, harassed, targeted, denied due process, had her reputation tarnished, lost wages and opportunities and now risks losing some of her certification for simply doing what she is mandatorily required to do, report abuse of students. This is a travesty!
Not only should her case be dismissed, she deserves an admission of wrongdoing from all parties involved over the years, she deserves a public apology for these injustices, and she deserves to be made whole for the losses that she’s incurred. But more importantly, the taxpayers who have been footing the bill for these coverups and settlements deserve to know what’s been going on in secret, back-room meetings, as well as in broad daylight, as the example with the cheating refs, so that meaningful, transformative change can begin to take place. Most importantly, we owe it to the children who our public schools are intended to serve.
