Principals Sue PG School System for Discrimination

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)The principals’ union has filed a $100 million class-action lawsuit against the Prince George’s County public school system and its Board of Education. According to the suit filed last week by the Association of Supervisory and Administrative School Personnel (ASASP), 100 school administrators and principals demoted or fired under former Superintendent Dr. William Hite were the targets of age and race discrimination. The school system “systematically promoted” younger principals over those who were over 40 and subjected older principals to “more subjective and rigorous performance standards,” the lawsuit alleges. The union has sued for $100 million in lost wages and benefits for the administrators and principals, and says the discrimination affected students as well. “When you have administrators in the schools who are so demoralized, it’s going to roll down to the children,” said ASASP Executive Director Doris Reed. “We’ve been trying to get the Board’s attention on this issue for more than six years,” said Reed, “hopefully we’ve got their attention now.” - includes reporting by NBC Channel 4 and The Washington Post