By fitsnews – July 27, 2011
For those of you unfamiliar with Lexington-Richland 5, it’s a Midlands, South Carolina public school district with a long history of unnecessary spending, misinformation tactics and sex scandals (here and here).
Now, it looks as though the district is about to add racial discrimination to the mix.
A former district employee resigned from Lexington 5 School District this spring alleging discrimination on the basis of skin color. This employee has since filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
According to our sources, the employee’s complaint alleges that the school district has hired and promoted white employees over better-educated, better-qualified black employees in its technology department. The employee also alleges that whites have been given promotions and salary increases while minorities are told that no funding is available for them.
Not surprisingly, sex is also allegedly a factor in the discriminatory actions.
Specifically, a white female was allegedly given a salary increase in December 2009 – and another in June 2010 – while in a relationship with one of the school’s top administrators. This employee was then selected for a new position – with another salary increase – shortly after the start of the 2010 school year.
Late last year, another white employee was promoted in district technology office after the job had originally been offered to a minority.
Lexington-Richland 5 spokesman Buddy Price tells FITS that the district doesn’t comment on personnel matters, but does “from to time receive administrative charges alleging discrimination.”
“These charges are in most cases filed by former employees of the district who either resigned or were terminated,” Price said. “Discrimination of any kind is not tolerated by our district so when such charges are alleged, we take them very seriously and forward them to legal counsel for investigation
A spokesman for the EEOC in Washington, D.C. said that the agency is prohibited by law from discussing the case.
FITS is currently withholding the names of the employees involved, although we suspect our attorneys will give us the go-ahead to publish those names soon.
Stay tuned …
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