Former East St. Louis school employee sues superintendent for alleged sexual harassment
The East St. Louis District 189 school board and superintendent “vehemently deny” sexual harassment, racial discrimination and retaliation charges alleged in a federal civil lawsuit filed by a former District 189 employee.
Yvette Jackson, a former material management employee for the district, filed the suit Sept. 20 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District in East St. Louis against the District 189 school board and Superintendent Arthur Culver, alleging that Culver showed her an inappropriate video despite her objections, sexually harassed and discriminated against her.
The suit alleges Culver used inappropriate, sexually explicit language with Jackson on several occasions. And immediately after she reported Culver’s behavior, Jackson alleges she “was excluded from regular meetings and ostracized,” according to the suit.
Garrett Hoerner, attorney for the the school board and Culver, said in a statement released to the News-Democrat, “Our clients vehemently deny plaintiffs (Jackson’s) claims and intend to vigorously defend against” them.
“I fully expect plaintiff’s claim to be dismissed by the federal district court, just as the charge of discrimination was dismissed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,” Hoerner said.
Hoerner said beyond that, “the district does not comment concerning specifics of pending litigation.”
Jackson is represented by Larry Fields, an attorney from St. Louis. He did not return phone calls, and she could not be reached for comment.
The five-count lawsuit says Jackson started working for District 189 as director of Material Management, on Dec. 14, 1998, and alleges there were various incidents that occurred before and after 2018.
In the suit, Jackson said that on April 1, 2018, Culver showed her a pornographic video involving two men and one woman and made inappropriate comments. One of the men is alleged to be a school district employee.
Jackson, according to her lawsuit, complained the following day to a purchasing supervisor about Culver’s behavior. Following this, Jackson alleges that at a personnel meeting, Culver changed the agenda to include eliminating her job.
“Prior to Jackson’s report of harassment there was no plan to eliminate her job,” the suit states.
“Board members and staff were confused by Culver’s actions because Jackson had been an integral employee and someone Culver relied on daily. But, the board didn’t attempt to curtail Culver’s actions,” the suit states.
The suit further alleges that Culver bumped into Jackson in an inappropriate way, and that it was witnessed by a school board member.
The suit alleges further instances of inappropriate actions, gestures and repeated unwelcome advances by Culver toward Jackson in 2017 and 2018, as well as inappropriate sexual comments throughout the time she was there.
She is seeking an unspecified amount of damages and reinstatement to her job.
“As a proximate result of his discrimination, Jackson suffered loss of wages, loss of employment benefits, pain and suffering, loss of self-esteem, loss of enjoyment of life and emotional distress,” the suit states.
This story was originally published October 8, 2019 at 3:24 PM.