Angela Jolley meets the textbook definition of a whistleblower, said Doug Mann, her attorney.
"She saw the wrongdoing and she spoke up," Mann said.
For speaking up, Columbia Public Schools retaliated against Jolley, alleges a lawsuit filed last week in Boone County Circuit Court.
The district is prepared to defend itself, district spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark wrote Tuesday in an email.
"The district has yet to be served with the lawsuit," Baumstark wrote. "We cannot comment specifically on pending or ongoing litigation. However, the district is confident in its employment decisions and intends to vigorously defend itself."
The lawsuit comes as the Columbia Board of Education prepares to consider a new student seclusion and restraint policy based on a new state law. The new law makes student seclusion allowed only in standard-size classrooms or meeting rooms.
Jolley, a former district learning specialist, raised concerns about wooden boxes at the district's Center of Responsive Education, which the lawsuit alleges students were confined in to discipline them. The document describes the confinement boxes as measuring approximately 4 feet by 6 feet and 8 feet high. The lawsuit describes them as "hastily constructed plywood boxes" where students were sent to "timeout."
Students were also confined in a closet in the building, the lawsuit alleges.
She shared photographs of the confinement boxes as they were being built with someone she thought needed to know, and those photos...
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