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| LBJ High former Principal sues Austin school district over termination |
| AUSTIN
- A popular former principal of LBJ High School principal who was fired has filed a
lawsuit against the Austin school district, alleging conspiracy, fraud and discrimination.
Former Principal Sylvia Lewis, who is African-American, said Superintendent Pat Forgione
and area superintendent Glenn Nolly conspired with White parents to have her removed from
the position in 2000. The suit also claims that an unfavorable evaluation of Lewis that Nolly presented to the Austin school board during an administrative hearing in May 2000 was fraudulent. Lewis is seeking lost wages, unspecified damages and a judgment declaring that Nolly violated state law by using a fake government document. “This has been very, very difficult for her,” said her attorney Kelly Evans. “Part of this is that she really would like to have her day in court so she can vindicate her name.” Lewis was hired by former school superintendent James Fox, largely because of her success in her former job in closing the resource gaps at the previous magnet school where she worked. However, her efforts were not appreciated by the White parents at LBJ High School, whose neighborhood students are predominantly African-American and Hispanic from low-income families but houses the Science Academy, a magnet school that draws mostly White students from affluent families from other parts of town. Lewis claims in her suit that angry parents of magnet students came up with a “calculated conspiracy” to have her removed after she redistributed resources at the school to create equity between the magnet and nonmagnet programs. The firing of Lewis coalesced the black community in a way few other events in the school district have. |
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