A 14-year-old case between the Fort Worth school district and whistleblower Joseph Palazzolo will go to a jury for the second time, an appeals court ruled Thursday, Aug. 13.
In August 2010, Palazzolo, a former assistant principal and campus diversity representative at Arlington Heights, filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency alleging falsification of attendance records, sexual misconduct and discrimination at the high school.
Three months later, Palazzolo was fired by the district on grounds that school officials said were "unrelated to his reports of wrongdoing." Palazzolo appealed his termination to TEA.
In 2014, a Wise County court awarded Palazzolo over $2.4 million, but an appeals court reversed that judgment in 2016, ruling that the judge failed to ask the jury if the district would have fired Palazzolo regardless of his complaints. The appeals court ordered a new trial.
In 2019, an appeals court ruled against Fort Worth ISD's request to dismiss the case. In January, the trial court judge, 271st Judicial District Judge Brock Smith, denied a motion made by the school district to dismiss the suit. About a week before the scheduled February trial, the school district filed an appeal asking the Texas Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth to dismiss the lawsuit.
In an opinion handed down Aug. 13, the court said the school district's actions were "blatant retaliation," according to a release by Warren Norred, attorney for Palazzolo.
"This is what happens when a...
Operatives of the Bauchi State Police Command have arrested three security personnel attached to First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Bauchi, over alleged criminal conspiracy, defamation, giving false...