A former high school math teacher in Orlando, Fla. filed a lawsuit this week claiming that school officials discriminated against her after they found out she had a black boyfriend.
The teacher, Audrey Dudek, had taught at Edgewater High School, reports Orlando NBC affiliate WESH-TV.
Dudek, who is white, has since married her boyfriend.
She lost her job in 2013. The lawsuit contends that Dudek lost her job “because she closely associated with non-whites.” The Edgewater High principal and an assistant principal were “shocked and offended” by the relationship between a white woman and a black man, the lawsuit claims.
The suit maintains that Dudek’s classroom was known as “Club Audrey” because she played “black music” and fraternized with teachers who were not white.
Dudek received unfair and manipulated performance reviews, the suit says.
Also, the suit alleges, Dudek once had to sit through a racially-tinged skit performed by other teachers in which the teachers — presumably white — donned black face, fake gold teeth, Afro wigs and saggy clothes.
“The assistant principal complained to her, to her face, talking to, and I quote, ‘those people’ — referring to black members of the faculty and staff,” Dudek’s attorney, Suzanne Tzuanos, told WESH-TV.
“This isn’t about sending a message. This is about getting justice for a teacher that was terminated unlawfully,” Tzuanos also said.
Both Dudek’s attorney and school district officials have noted in court documents that Dudek had told the school district’s academic dean of students, Natalie Ford, that she believed she was suffering discrimination because she was dating a black man.
Ford, who is black, took no action on Dudek’s complaint.
The school district denies the racial allegations. Attorneys for the school district assert that the Edgewater High principal and assistant principal accused of discrimination never saw the black boyfriend at school or at any school-related event.
The school district also observes that the same principal works with 23 black teachers and staffers and has hired six black teachers. Additionally, two assistant principals at Edgewater High are black.
Also, the assistant principal accused of saying “those people” denies ever using the phrase.
Attorneys for the school district call Dudek part of a “disgruntled group of individuals” who did not respond well to administrative efforts to improve academic performance at Edgewater High.
District officials also chalked up the decision not to renew Dudek’s contract to budget cuts.
Tzuanos, Dudek’s attorney, calls the budget contention plainly erroneous.
“The budget didn’t go down in that period of time. Ms. Dudek is a math teacher. There’s a critical need for math teachers at Orange County Public Schools, so the district’s explanation does not hold water,” Tzuanos told the local NBC affiliate.
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