Portland schools' defense in lawsuit: Incompetence, not discrimination, got Diana Fernandez fired | OregonLive.com

Portland schools' defense in lawsuit: Incompetence, not discrimination, got Diana Fernandez fired | OregonLive.com:

Portland schools' defense in lawsuit: Incompetence, not discrimination, got Diana Fernandez fired

Published: Monday, January 02, 2012, 12:01 PM

By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian
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View full sizeJoel Davis / The OregonianStudents speaking more than 90 different languages count on Portland Public Schools to help them learn English and master grade-level academic content. Portland's English as a second language program has chronically failed to meet minimum state standards, and district leaders say the longtime ESL director they fired earlier this year was grossly incompetent. She says she the victim of discrimination against her age, gender and medical condition.

Portland Public Schools, which recently won a big discrimination lawsuit by a demoted special ed principal, faces another potentially expensive lawsuit from the ousted director of its troubled English-as-a-second-language program.

Diana Fernandez, who ran the state's second-largest largest ESL program for more than five years, claims in her suit that she was wrongly fired at age 60 for complaining she was discriminated against as a woman, an older employee and a cancer patient.