NORFOLK, Va. — A former Norfolk Academy teacher is suing the school and its headmaster for $425,000 over allegations that she was unfairly demoted because of her race.
Joan Allison worked as an elementary school teacher for 39 years, according to her attorney Tom Shoemaker. In federal court Tuesday, Shoemaker said he wants this case to be a “wake-up call” for the school.
He said, in 2019, Norfolk Academy Headmaster Dennis Manning told Allison she would be transferred from teaching in the classroom to working in the school’s after-care.
Shoemaker said while there is no “smoking gun” in this case, one factor for Allison’s transfer was her race.
He said Allison was one of two Black elementary school teachers at Norfolk Academy and she often wasn’t treated as fairly as the other teachers.
But Manning and Norfolk Academy’s lawyer, Charles Meyer, said Allison’s transfer had nothing to do with her race.
Meyer said in court, school administrators received an “unprecedented volume” of parent complaints about Allison’s teaching.
Meyer accused Allison of “bullying” students and said it was so bad, some parents removed their children from the school entirely.
Meyer said despite this, school administrators did not fire her but instead offered her a new role that came with a 2% raise.
Meyer asked the court: “How is that adverse action?”
In an e-mail sent to parents on Monday, Manning said the school offered Allison a different curriculum development and library teaching position, which she accepted before resigning six weeks later.