The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Hearings and Appeals has ruled that Cardinal Charter Academy in Cary engaged in illegal, retaliatory actions when it fired a math teacher who made “protected disclosures,” claiming the school did not provide students with the special education services their Individual Education Plans required.
Terri Schmitz’s firing violated the National Defense Authorization Act, which addresses retaliation by a federal grant recipient for whistleblowing, Administrative Law Judge Robert G. Layton said in a Decision and Order address dated Sept. 15.
Cardinal Charter’s activities are covered under the federal act because it received more than $446,000 in Individuals With Disabilities Education Act money from 2020 to 2023 in pass-throughs from the NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI).
Florida-based Charter Schools USA (a for-profit firm that manages more than 90 schools in five states, including Cardinal Charter and eight others in North Carolina) and Triangle Charter Education Association Board (one of several nonprofits with which Charters USA works to develop and outline the mission, vision, values and policies of various schools) were the named “grantees” — in effect, the defendants — in the proceeding.
“Complainant [Schmitz] has demonstrated that her protected disclosures were contributing factors to Cardinal’s decision to terminate her...
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