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Steve Myers
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A well-known retired Central High School teacher and former basketball coach is suing the Flint School District for disciplining him, allegedly because he was a white man who tried to restrain a disruptive black student.
Keith Richardson is seeking $500,000 in a civil rights lawsuit to restore what he contends is his now-tarnished reputation following the Dec. 6, 2001, incident. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Monday and a jury trial is set for November before Genesee Circuit Court Judge Archie Hayman.
The case centers around an altercation between Richardson and a ninth-grade Central student. A school surveillance videotape shows Richardson pushing and holding the youth against a locker.
The videotape, however, does not show the start of the altercation, which began after the teen was allegedly being disruptive in a U.S. history class, according to court documents filed by Richardson.
His lawsuit alleges some of his mental distress was caused by comments made about the incident by Flint Board of Education member Herbert Cleaves during a Feb. 20, 2002, school board meeting.
Monday's court hearing, in part, is to determine whether Cleaves' comments can be used as evidence to support Richardson's contention that a three-day, unpaid suspension he received in early 2002 was improperly based on race.
Cleaves didn't mention Richardson by name, but his statements were critical of a "6-foot-5 ... Flint Central teacher ... who jumped on a kid." Cleaves said he was upset the teacher got suspended for only three days for assaulting a student while students involved in similar cases get expelled for 180 or 188 days.
At the conclusion of the statement, which touched on various topics, Cleaves said, "Race is live and well in the Flint school system and we have done nothing, absolutely nothing, about it to protect the children, mostly students, in this school district about that."
During his statement, Cleaves is asked to stop talking and is warned repeatedly by another board member that his comments were opening up the district to a potential lawsuit, but Cleaves said, "I am going to say what I got to say and you are not going to stop me ever again."
Richardson said Cleaves's comments suggest what took place behind the scenes regarding his suspension and are proof that Richardson was suspended because he was white.
The district, in court records, denies the racism allegations. It said Cleaves's comments were made after Richardson already had been suspended, that Cleaves personally had no input on the suspension, and that his statements about race were on another topic unrelated to Richardson.
Cleaves declined to comment about the case.
Richardson, a 1959 Central graduate, taught at the school for 39 1/2 years and was the head boys basketball coach at Flint Southwestern Academy for about 10 years in the 1970s.
A three-person case evaluation committee recommended the school district give Richardson $175,000 to settle his lawsuit, said Tom Pabst, Richardson's Flint attorney. But Pabst said they want more.
Charles A. Duerr Jr., an attorney representing the district, declined to comment about the settlement issue, but said, "We're convinced Mr. Richardson was not discriminated against."
Richardson claims he feared the student may have had a weapon and that the teen pushed him before they came in view of the security camera. Richardson said he restrained the teen in order to protect himself and get the youth to calm down.
The security tape was key to administrators deciding to suspend Richardson for three days without pay for using "unreasonable force," court records state. But an arbitrator, as part of a union grievance filed on Richardson's behalf, later ruled the discipline was unwarranted and the district eventually repaid Richardson for the three days.
Richardson said he retired from Central in 2002 due to the negative fallout over the incident and had developed a heart problem possibly due to stress over the situation.
"When one of my son's friends told him one day that, 'I heard your dad is beating up black students at school,' that was enough right there, I will never forget that. It hurt then and it hurts right now," Richardson said.
"It's something I think of every day. It's like losing a big game to Northwestern, the first thing you think of when you wake up is that game."
Key to his lawsuit is a claim that another Central teacher, who is black, was not disciplined for a similar incident involving a another black ninth-grader. That case allegedly took place two years after the one involving Richardson.
The district claims the two incidents are not similar and therefore Richardson was not discriminated against because he was white, according to court records.
Full Story:
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-32/1127649022143570.xml&coll=5 |
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Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:18 am |
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Steve Myers
Site Admin
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FLINT - The Flint School District has agreed to pay retired teacher and former basketball coach Keith Richardson $175,000 to settle a lawsuit over a 2001 incident involving a black student.
Attorneys for the district and Richardson agreed to the settlement Tuesday in Genesee County Circuit Court, said Tom Pabst, Richardson's attorney, and Charles A. Duerr Jr., attorney for the district.
Richardson wanted $500,000 and didn't think the $175,000 recommended by a three-person case evaluation committee was enough. But Pabst said Richardson was willing to accept the lower figure, adding that the case was not about the money.
"It certainly is vindication to what had happened to me right from the beginning," said Richardson, a former Central High School teacher who taught in the district 39 1/2 years before retiring in 2002. "It was a huge relief. I'm glad it's over, and I'm glad it came out the way it did. It means a great deal to me."
Richardson claimed he was unfairly suspended for three days in 2002 because he was a white man who disciplined a black student. The case involved a Dec. 6, 2001, confrontation between Richardson and a ninth-grade Central student.
A school surveillance videotape shows Richardson pushing and holding the youth against a locker. Richardson claimed the youth pushed him before they came into view of the camera, and he restrained the teen to protect himself and get the student to calm down.
The district maintains that Richardson was not discriminated against because of race, Duerr said.
"The district believes there was not race discrimination. However, in considering whether or not to accept a case evaluation award, clients have to consider the cost of a trial, the disruption to people's time and the risk that there could be an adverse result," Duerr said.
"It was a balancing thing, and the district agreed to accept the case evaluation recommendation."
About $55,000 of the settlement will go to his attorneys, and Richardson will get the remaining $120,000.
Richardson was the boys basketball coach at Southwestern High School, now Flint Southwestern Academy, in the 1970s.
Full Story:
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-32/1128007290278710.xml&coll=5 |
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Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:57 am |
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