Ex-Millcreek schools official said he was wrongfully demoted, but he has withdrawn lawsuit

A former top administrator at the Millcreek Township School District has dropped his lawsuit claiming that he was improperly demoted.

The withdrawal of the suit, in Erie County Common Pleas Court, involved no payments to the plaintiff, Joe Orlando, according to school district records.

Orlando dropped the case shortly after he got a new job outside the school district. A fight over the amount of back wages he wanted was likely to complicate the suit had it proceeded, according to court records.

Orlando was the Millcreek School District's director of elementary education when the School Board on June 26 unanimously voted to demote him to a sixth-grade English teacher at J.S. Wilson Middle School.

The board approved the demotion at the request of the Millcreek schools superintendent at the time, Ian Roberts, who left the 6,500-student district on June 30 to become the superintendent of the 30,000-student public school district in Des Moine, Iowa.

Orlando's salary was $119,700 a year as director of elementary education. His salary dropped to $80,279 a year with the demotion.

Orlando never started the job as a sixth-grade English teacher. He resigned from the school district effective Aug. 11 and took a job with Erie Insurance Group on Aug. 14, according to court records and his LinkedIn account.

Lawsuit discontinued in Erie County Common Pleas Court

Through his lawyer, Richard Ruth, Orlando sued the school district on July 24. The suit claimed Roberts downgraded Orlando's position in a way that barred the School Board from reducing his salary under the Pennsylvania School Code. The school district claimed the demotion was carried out properly.

Ruth ended the lawsuit on Orlando's behalf on Sept. 14, according to a document filed in Common Pleas Court on Sept. 14. The document said the suit had been settled or discontinued. The case never went to a hearing before a judge.

Citing the discontinuance, the Erie Times-News filed a request under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law that asked the school district to provide a copy of any settlement agreement between Orlando and the school district. The district responded in a letter on Monday that "No Settlement Agreement exists because Mr. Orlando filed for voluntary discontinuance of the matter."

The lawyer for the Millcreek School District on the case, Julia Herzing, said the district had no comment. Ruth, Orlando's lawyer, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Dispute over damages likely if case had advanced

Had the case moved ahead in court, the school district was prepared to argue that Orlando was restricted in the amount of back pay he could seek.

In a filing on Aug. 28, Herzing said damages should be limited to the dates of Orlando's demotion — June 26 to Aug. 11, a period of about seven weeks — and should be limited to the difference between Orlando's administrative salary of $119,700 and his teaching salary of $80,279 ― a difference of $39,421 a year or $758 a week.

Orlando's damages would have been limited to $5,306 based on those restrictions. Ruth disagreed with the limits, according to court records.

Orlando's lawsuit hinged on the legal interpretation of his demotion. Ruth argued that Roberts moved Orlando to a lesser position through what is known as a "realignment demotion" under Pennsylvania school law.

A realignment demotion is a demotion due to a reorganization or regrouping of officials within a school district. Orlando's lawsuit claimed a realignment demotion prohibits any salary reduction.

Herzing, the lawyer for the school district, argued the demotion was a "pure demotion" under Pennsylvania school law, and that the School Board was allowed to cut Orlando's salary as a result. A pure demotion, according to the court filings, constitutes a demotion based on policy rather than economic reasons. The School Board accepted Herzing's position in voting to demote Orlando.

Consolidation of posts led to job changes

Roberts, who was the superintendent of the Millcreek School District for a little less that three years, recommended the demotion as he moved to reduce the number of the Millcreek School District's top officials — the 12 central administrators he called members of his "core team."

The consolidation focused on the top three administrators in the school district's curriculum department, according to court records. They were Orlando, the director of elementary education; Timothy Stoops, the director of alternative learning and assessment; and John Cavanagh, director of secondary education.

Roberts eliminated the positions of Orlando and Stoops and created the job of director of K-12 education. Orlando had an opportunity to apply for the new job, according to court records, but ended up getting demoted to sixth-grade English teacher.

Roberts demoted Stoops to an eighth-grade English teacher at J.S. Wilson Middle School. The School Board also approved his demotion on June 26, but Stoops resigned before he started the new job.

Cavanagh became the district's director of K-12 education under the consolidation. The School Board hired him as the district's new superintendent on July 17.

The School Board approved Orlando's demotion at the same June 26 board meeting at which the school directors unanimously resolved another issue that developed during Roberts' tenure as superintendent. The board unanimously approved a $250,000 settlement agreement with the school district's former director of human resources, Melody Ellington. She held that job for about 15 months until she resigned in September.

Going to court: Ex-Millcreek schools official sues over demotion, adding to legal issues under Ian Roberts

Ellington never filed a lawsuit, but the $250,000 settlement resolved her claims that she was subjected to "unlawful treatment" at the school district and that the treatment left her no choice but to resign, according to the agreement.

The settlement agreement, which the Erie Times-News obtained under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law, provides no details on Ellington's claims. It includes a confidentiality clause that prohibits Ellington, Roberts or any other employees connected to the Millcreek School District from talking about the deal.

Ruth, Orlando's lawyer, also represented Ellington.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Ex-official at Millcreek School District ends lawsuit over demotion