The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

August 14, 2008

WM school directors settle suit over discrimination claim

By Joe Pinchot

WEST MIDDLESEX — West Middlesex Area School Board has agreed to pay $40,000 to a Boyers woman who sued it for disability discrimination.

The district actually paid only a $5,000 deductible, with its insurance company paying the rest.

Stephanie A. Wetzel also sued Slippery Rock University, which paid her $110,000 to settle.

The settlement tentatively was reached in February during trial jury selection, and the school board has since approved it.

Ms. Wetzel, formerly Stephanie Burns, sued March 10, 2006. She was attending Slippery Rock’s teaching program and was assigned to a field experience — a precursor to student teaching — at West Middlesex’s Oakview Elementary School.

Oakview fourth-grade teacher Georgiana Luce, who has since left the district, contacted Slippery Rock officials about problems she believed Ms. Wetzel was having during the field experience in about April 2005. Among Ms. Luce’s criticisms were that Ms. Wetzel was unprepared, used incorrect grammar in front of students, shared improper personal information and was unprofessionally dressed.

Ms. Luce testified in a deposition she did not ask that Ms. Wetzel be removed from the program, and district officials said that decision was made by Slippery Rock officials.

Slippery Rock officials claimed West Middlesex officials removed her from the field experience.

Ms. Wetzel, 25, said she has genetic hearing loss, which has affected her speech. She claimed that she was told she was not allowed to complete the field experience because Ms. Luce did not want her because of her disability. She claimed the university refused to assign her to another field assignment, and removed her from the teacher certification program.

She graduated from Slippery Rock in December 2005 with a degree in early childhood development and learning, but did not receive a teaching certificate.

Neither West Middlesex nor Slippery Rock admitted that they discriminated against Ms. Wetzel, and the settlement agreement said the payment of the settlement does not “imply” any wrongdoing on the part of the educational institutions.

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