KALAMAZOO, MI – A Kalamazoo Public Schools employee filed a lawsuit Thursday against the district alleging an abuse of district funds, retaliation against whistleblowers and violations of Michigan’s Open Meetings Act.
Tabatha Coleman, the now-former secretary to the KPS superintendent and board of education, was involuntarily transferred to a lower level job after filing a complaint about how the board spent money and public notices of meetings, her attorney Eric Delaporte told the Kalamazoo Gazette/MLive.
Coleman will lose $7,500 per year after she was wrongfully removed from her job as the KPS board recording secretary, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit filed March 9 in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court is against the school district, former KPS board president and current trustee Patti Sholler-Barber and interim Superintendent Cindy Green.
“The district hired legal counsel to investigate Tabatha Coleman’s complaint,” KPS spokesperson Susan Coney said. “The investigation found no merit to her complaint. She is a current employee and received a pay increase.”
Eric Delaporte, Coleman’s attorney, said the lawsuit would shed light on recent resignations and terminations at the school district.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of recent district turmoil, including former Superintendent Rita Raichoudhuri’s abrupt resignation on Dec. 12, and the firing of Assistant Superintendent of Operations Jim English on Dec. 28. The school board said Raichoudhuri’s departure was a “mutual decision...
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