Former TX SPED Director, Laurie Kash, Wins Wrongful Termination Lawsuit; TN “Wins” Penny Schwinn (?)
On November 21, 2017, then-Texas special education director, Laurie Kash, blew the whistle on the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) entering into a $4.4M no-bid contract with a special education data collecting company, SPEDx; she filed a report with the US Department of Education (USDOE) Office of Inspector General (OIG).
The following day– November 22, 2017– Kash was abruptly fired via email. (For these details and more, see my March 19, 2018, post.)
She sued for wrongful termination, and on November 22, 2019– two years to the day following Kash’s termination– the USDOE Office of Hearings and Appeals ruled in Kash’s favor. From the ruling:
The OIG report found that Kash’s communications with OIG and TEA’s internal audit office were a contributing factor in TEA’s decision to terminate her employment. Although TEA asserted other reasons for firing Kash, the OIG report found TEA did not provide clear and convincing evidence that it would have taken the same the personnel action without Kash’s disclosure.
Kash was awarded $135K “for proper back pay”; $67K in attorneys’ fees, and $800 for “additional costs,” for a total of just under $203K. However, Kash’s ordeal is not over; TEA is expected to withholding payment pending appeal.
Blowing whistles ceraintly is not easy.
And its not just SPED contracts that are at issue in Texas. It’s special education in general. From the March 2019 Texas Tribune:
Preparing to ask the federal government for $1 billion in special education grants, Texas education officials have indicated they do not expect to be able to adequately educate kids with disabilities until June 2020.Texas is in the middle of a federally mandated overhaul of special education after a federal investigation found the state had for years been CONTINUE READING: Former TX SPED Director, Laurie Kash, Wins Wrongful Termination Lawsuit; TN “Wins” Penny Schwinn (?) | deutsch29
