Halsey's suit drops political retaliation

Barbara Halsey has changed the claims in her lawsuit against the Alleghany County Board of Education, according to papers filed last week by her attorney.

The amended complaint dropped the political-retaliation charge and no longer names former and current board members as defendants individually but only in their official capacity.

Halsey taught at Piney Creek Elementary School from 1998 to 2000. She is suing the board over its June 2000 decision not to grant her career status or renew her teaching contract.

The suit was filed in April 2001. It named as defendants the board as a whole as well as each person who was a member in June 2000. The suit papers said each member was being sued in his individual and official capacity.

As filed last April, the suit stated, "On June 8, 2000, Bob Irwin, Curtis Weaver, Charles Joines, David Caldwell and Gary Murphy, in their capacity as Alleghany School Board members, voted not to grant plaintiff career status even though plaintiff had exceptional evaluations and had received no criticism after her April 13, 2000 evaluation.

"The decision of the defendants was not based upon permissible factors regarding plaintiff's performance as a teacher, and a motivating factor in the board's decision was retaliation against plaintiff for the action of her husband in running against and defeating the board chairman."

Halsey's husband James Halsey ran for a seat on the board that year. He was one of two candidates who received more votes than Irwin in the May 2000 Democratic primary, ending Irwin's bid for re-election. James Halsey then failed to win election to the board in the general election the following November.

Attorney Jonathan A. Blumberg of Raleigh, who is representing the board in the case, denied the political-retaliation charge, both in the board's official written response and in telephone interviews.

The amended complaint, filed Jan. 14 by Barbara Halsey's attorney, John W. Gresham of Charlotte, drops the political-retaliation paragraph and instead reads, "The decision of the defendants was not based upon permissible factors regarding plaintiff's performance as a teacher, but were based on erroneous and unlawful information provided to the board by employees of the board."

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