Groveport Madison reaches settlement with Department of Justice in race discrimination suit

The U.S. Department of Justice has reached a consent decree settlement with Groveport Madison Local Schools Board of Education in a racial discrimination suit filed by a former district assistant principal.

Amon-Ra Dobbins, former Groveport Madison High School assistant principal, filed a complaint alleging the district violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by retaliating against and then firing him for opposing what he felt was a discriminatory dress code policy.

Title VII prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex and religion. It also prohibits retaliation against employees who oppose discriminatory employment practices.

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Under the consent decree announced Wednesday, the district will have to pay Dobbins $200,000 in back pay and compensatory damages, and will be required to develop and submit its discrimination and retaliation policies, complaint investigation procedures, and proposed trainings to the federal government for approval.

“We stand with those brave employees who oppose discrimination in the workplace and who work to ensure equal opportunity in all aspects of their jobs," Kristen Clarke, Assistant U.S. Attorney in charge of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, said in the release. "This consent decree reflects the Civil Rights Division’s commitment to ensuring that no person should face retaliation for standing up against discrimination.”

Groveport Madison Local Schools declined to comment for this story when contacted by The Dispatch.

A change in the district's dress code

In his complaint, Dobbins was concerned that the school district's dress code — prohibiting hoods, hats, coats, bandanas and sunglasses to be worn in school buildings or classes — was discriminatory against African American students.

Specifically starting in the 2018-2019 school year, the complaint stated that the district interpreted its dress code to additionally prohibit students from wearing do-rags (also spelled doo-rag, du-rag and durag) and bonnets, a piece of cloth typically worn by African American males and females to cover the head and preserve processed hairstyles and patterns.

According to the complaint, Dobbins at the time was the high school's administrator in charge of discipline, and he was concerned he would have to enforce the district's interpreted dress code and make sure other teachers do so. Dobbins also saw a disproportionate amount of African American students being referred for discipline because of the district's interpretation.

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During a meeting in September 2018 of the district's Building Leadership Team — a high school administrators and teachers who were department heads — Dobbins explained the significance of do-rags and bonnets for African American students and the disproportionate discipline. The complaint states all participants of the meeting, including then-principal Jaivir Singh, agreed to permit students wearing do-rags and bonnets.

Afterwards, Dobbins sent an email to students telling them that do-rags and bonnets were permitted, as long as their faces could be seen.

However, when Groveport Madison Superintendent Garilee Ogden visited the high school on Oct. 10, 2018 and saw students wearing do-rags, Ogden instructed Singh and then-director of secondary education Scott Nelson to prohibit do-rags in the school, according to court documents.

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Days later, Singh told Dobbins to return to disciplining students who wore do-rags. Dobbins opposed the decision, but agreed to begin doing so again.

Dobbins receives alleged retaliation

On Oct. 18, 2018, the district gave Dobbins a written reprimand saying that permitting do-rags and bonnets was an example of failing to follow the Board of Education's policies and procedures.

In addition, the district put Dobbins on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) "because he was not processing student discipline referrals quickly enough" and requiring him to create a system to process them quickly, the complaint said. He also had to make a new system to "regulate student behavior," and attend trainings on how to do so.

In November 2018, Dobbins claimed to the district that his placement in the PIP program was racially discriminatory. He met with school district officials the next month, but his complaint was allegedly ignored.

The complaint stated that Dobbins continued to meet performance expectations through evaluations and performance reviews. But in December 2018, the Board did not renew his contract.

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Matt Cygnor, the district's head of human resources who allegedly ignored Dobbins' complaints in the past, allegedly tried to convince Dobbins to resign, even giving him a letter of resignation to sign, the complaint stated.

According to the complaint, Cygnor told Dobbins, "Listen, you're a Black guy, you will have no problem getting another job" after telling him keeping the job would not be good for his career.

The complaint also stated that this conversation was a common practice within the district so they could avoid putting people on administrative leave and for the Board to "avoid formally not renewing his or her contract."

Dobbins did not resign, stating the letter "contained falsehoods about his job performance," and that he still had time to meet his PIP goals, which had deadlines in March 2019 and later.

District terminates Dobbins, comes to consent decree

The complaint stated that Ogden and Deputy Superintendent James Grube searched Dobbins' office on a weekend while he was not there, and went through student discipline referrals that were being processed. It allegedly "undid weeks of organization that Dobbins completed under his system to meet his PIP goals."

On Feb. 4, 2019, Dobbins received a poor final evaluation for the 2018-2019 school year from the district, rating him as "ineffective" in several areas, which was the lowest category. They added he showed no progress towards his PIP goals despite Singh evaluating otherwise during the year, and then put Dobbins on administrative leave.

All of this led Dobbins to eventually file a civil rights complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Columbus.

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The court and the school district, which denied it had discriminated against Dobbins, then came together and reached a consent decree to prevent further litigation.

“We are confident that the consent decree will lead to the development and equitable enforcement of policies that protect and promote the civil rights of all involved,” Kenneth L. Parker U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said in the release. “The consent decree provides a path for the school district and school board to achieve Title VII-compliant policies, procedures, and training.”

Dobbins is now self-employed as the operations director for Elite Educational Services LLC.

Read the full complaint and consent decree.

@leem386

mylee@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Groveport Madison settles race discrimination suit with DOJ