KALAMAZOO, MI -- Kalamazoo Public Schools is pushing back against a whistleblower lawsuit filed this week, releasing a detailed investigative report that refutes allegations the school board was abusing district funds, violated the Michigan Open Meetings Act and retaliated against an employee when she raised concerns.
The employee, Tabatha Coleman, filed her lawsuit on Thursday, March, 9, three days after Clark Hill, the district’s law firm, issued an “investigative determination” that Coleman’s allegations were unsubstantiated.
Related: Kalamazoo schools employee files whistleblower lawsuit over per diem pay, meeting notices
The Clark Hill investigation was conducted by attorney Jessica Milligan. After Coleman filed her lawsuit, the district posted Milligan’s report on the district’s website.
Coleman was hired by the district in 2021 to serve as executive assistant to Rita Raichoudhuri, then KPS superintendent. Raichoudhuri abruptly resigned on Dec. 12, in what a board statement described as a “mutual decision.”
Two weeks later, on Dec. 29, Coleman sent a letter to Patti Sholler-Barber, then the school board president, alleging KPS conducted board meetings that were scheduled without proper notice and said Sholler-Barber requested meetings not be publicized and meeting minutes be altered in violation of the Open Meetings Act.
Coleman also alleges $248,524 in district funds has been unlawfully paid to the board in per diem compensation without oversight since 2007. In the...
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