{"id":1359,"date":"2007-03-06T17:46:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-06T23:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/former-lcps-workers-sue-claim-they-were-forced-out\/"},"modified":"2007-03-06T17:46:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-06T23:46:00","slug":"former-lcps-workers-sue-claim-they-were-forced-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/former-lcps-workers-sue-claim-they-were-forced-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Former LCPS workers sue, claim they were forced out"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Two former top administrators of the Las Cruces Public Schools<\/a> have filed lawsuits alleging they were improperly forced out last year by former Superintendent Sonia Diaz, who they claim was acting on behalf of the school board. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Former Chief Financial Officer Jack Jenkins and former Chief Operations Officer Jerry Laws allege interference with and breach of their contracts and intentional infliction of emotional distress. They are seeking damages that include compensation for medical and psychological effects, lost wages and other benefits, damage to reputation and attorney fees.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The lawsuits were filed Wednesday in the Third Judicial District Court in Las Cruces<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> by the attorney for Jenkins and Laws, Lawrence Pickett. Read Jenkins\u2019 complaint by clicking here<\/a> and Laws\u2019 by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The lawsuits name members of the school board and Diaz, both in their professional and individual capacities. The complaints specifically allege that Board Member Leonel Brise\u00f1o, speaking for the board, directed Diaz to get rid of the two former administrators despite the fact that they were under contract through June 30, 2008.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

They also allege that Brise\u00f1o, speaking for the board, tried to get former interim Superintendent Joann Patton to fire the two before Diaz was hired in July, but she refused. It\u2019s illegal for the board to direct personnel actions except as they relate to the employment of the superintendent.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Diaz said she had no comment. Brise\u00f1o had no comment other than to say that \u201cthe truth will come out.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The allegations may provide insight into the board\u2019s decision in the November to fire Diaz. Though personnel laws prohibit disclosure of the specifics behind personnel decisions, Diaz was fired following a myriad of complaints from staff members and central-office administrators about her treatment of them.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Diaz is appealing her firing in district court.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Jenkins had been employed by the district since 1991 and was hired by former Superintendent Jesse Gonzales. Laws had been employed since 2005 and was hired by former Superintendent Louis Martinez.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Both complaints allege that Diaz, shortly after being hired, \u201cbegan to institute a series of threats and harassment of plaintiff, challenging his authority. She made it clear to plaintiff her only allegiance was to the board and changes had to be made.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Laws alleges that Diaz questioned \u201chis integrity, truthfulness, honesty and trustworthiness.\u201d Jenkins\u2019 complaint alleges that Diaz \u201craised questions about plaintiff\u2019s professional demeanor and embarrassed him to the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As a result of the stress, Jenkins felt isolated, suffered from high blood pressure and began hyperventilating, his complaint alleges. He became depressed and physically ill and was approved for sick leave. Despite a doctor\u2019s order that he go on leave, Jenkins alleges that Diaz \u201cchallenged his right to sick leave and questioned his honesty and integrity for claiming he was in fact sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He was then \u201cinundated with inappropriate demands\u201d for justifying his sick leave, the complaint states. He resigned on Sept. 26.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Laws\u2019 claims are similar. He also went on sick leave, and quit on Oct. 5.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The complaints allege that the board, through Diaz, implemented a scheme of \u201csystematically targeting administrators from the district while they were still under contract to remove them from their positions. That scheme included willful threats, harassment, disparate treatment, retaliation and hostile work environment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two former top administrators of the Las Cruces Public Schools have filed lawsuits alleging they were improperly forced out last year by former Superintendent Sonia Diaz, who they claim was acting on behalf of the school board. Former Chief Financial Officer Jack Jenkins and former Chief Operations Officer Jerry Laws allege interference with and breach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}