Oct. 31, 2023 2:15p
(WGTD)---A federal court trial is scheduled for next year in a lawsuit which claims that a 2019 incident involving a Kenosha Unified special education teacher was mishandled so badly that it led, either directly or indirectly, to the departure of former Superintendent Sue Savaglio-Jarvis and two H-R staff members.
The suit was filed last year by former Prairie Lane Elementary special education teacher Sherry Johnson.
In the suit, Johnson claimed that differing approaches to special education led to friction and ultimately an incident in which Johnson was falsely accused of abusing a student.
Against the recommendation of the district’s top H-R administrator, Savaglio-Jarvis moved to fire Johnson.
In 2020, a rare open hearing was held in which Johnson appealed the decision to the school board—and won. That hearing was covered exclusively by WGTD.
The school board ruling included a directive that Johnson be allowed to resign and that the district would give out a neutral letter of reference.
The suit alleges that instead of following the directive, Savaglio-Jarvis had the H-R director notify the state Department of Public Instruction that Johnson left in the face of an “immoral conduct charge.”
After Johnson’s husband complained, a former school board member wrote a letter to D-P-I explaining the situation. The reference was eventually removed from D-P-I’s file.
The H-R director eventually resigned, and a department staffer who later claimed that she was forced to make certain statements against her will was so traumatized that she never returned to her normal employment.
The suit also references a school board investigation that led to Savaglio-Jarvis’ departure. At the time, her exit was billed as a retirement. She now heads Siena Catholic Schools in Racine.
The lawsuit names as defendants Kenosha Unified, Savaglio-Jarvis and an attorney who once represented the district.
Attorneys for the defendants are fighting the allegations, saying for one thing that the rules required the D-P-I notification.
Johnson now lives in Texas.
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