Assistant Superintendent Susan Johnson has settled her gender discrimination lawsuit with Lowndes County School District, according to federal court documents.
An agreed order was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court of Northern Mississippi to dismiss the case with prejudice. A day later, the LCSD board approved Johnson’s retirement, effective June 30.
Johnson, who has 35 years of experience in education and became an assistant superintendent at LCSD in 2017, was one of three finalists interviewed for the district superintendent job in 2019. The board selected then-New Hope Middle School Principal Sam Allison, who holds a master’s degree. Johnson and the other female finalist Christy Maulding, an assistant superintendent with Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, both hold doctorates.
In her complaint filed in October 2020, Johnson claims she wasn’t hired because she is female, and the board preferred a male in that position. It says Allison was picked despite his highest level of experience being as a building principal, compared to both hers and Maulding’s being at the district administrative level.
She also claimed the 15-member citizen panel handpicked to advise the board favored Allison.
Allison is LCSD’s first board-appointed superintendent. Prior to that, voters elected someone to the post every four years.
LCSD’s board voted to settle for an undisclosed amount during executive session in a special-called meeting May 26. At the time, Board Attorney Jeff Smith said the board took action on the Johnson case but did not offer specifics.
On Monday, LCSD issued a statement acknowledging the settlement.
“At a judge-requested settlement conference, our attorney was instructed by our insurance company to offer a settlement amount that would be a fraction of what it would cost the insurance company to fund the case at trial,” the statement reads. “The settlement was accepted by the plaintiff and later approved by the LCSD School Board. We, the Board, did not take this approval lightly and still stand by the fact that we in no way discriminated against anyone nor did anything wrong during the superintendent search and selection process. Had we chosen not to accept the settlement and continued the legal process in this case, it would have been at the expense of the district, not the insurance company.
“This option was discussed at great length, but we ultimately decided that, rather than incur additional legal fees that would far exceed the settlement amount, which is covered by our insurance carrier, we would follow the recommendation of our insurance company and put this matter behind us as expeditiously as possible,” it continues.
Attorney Jim Waide of Tupelo, who represented Johnson, was reserved in responding to whether his client is satisfied with the settlement.
“I believe she’s glad to have it over with,” Waide told The Dispatch in a phone interview. “She’s an outstanding administrator and was dedicated to the district.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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