SOUTH BEND — A former teacher at South Bend’s Edison Middle School has filed a lawsuit against the South Bend Community School Corp. (SBCSC) and employment agency Amergis Healthcare Staffing after being terminated due to an incident in April 2024.
District officials said they are prepared to move forward with the litigation.
The lawsuit
According to the complaint filed on Sept. 26 to the St. Joseph County Circuit Court, Amber Wheat worked as a teacher at Edison from January to April 2024 under a “dual employment relationship” between Amergis and the school.
On April 23, the court document says, a 12-year-old female student came to class “smelling of alcohol and acting erratically,” and Wheat noticed the student had a smoking device, although it was not immediately evident whether the device was used for tobacco or narcotics. Wheat called 911, and EMS took the student to the hospital, the document says.
According to the document, Wheat “believed in good faith that the child was likely a victim of abuse or neglect” and planned to report the incident to the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS); failing to report it “could have subjected her to criminal prosecution.”
However, the document says, Wheat was approached by Edison’s principal, who, when told she planned to make a report to DCS, “ordered her not to do it.” Wheat’s attorney, Patrick O’Leary, confirmed to The Tribune that the document refers to current Edison Principal Sean Dillon.
“He (Dillon) claimed that he knew the child’s family; that the child was like his ‘niece;’ and that he would handle the situation,” the document reads.
Wheat decided to proceed with her plan to file a report to DCS, the document says, sending a message to the DCS hotline on the evening of the incident.
The next day, April 24, Wheat was met in the hallway outside her classroom by Dillon, who “berated Ms. Wheat for involving DCS in the incident, claiming the matter ‘was none of her business’ and that it was unnecessary to involve DCS because he was handling the problem,” according to the report
Afraid that Dillon would “punish her,” that afternoon, Wheat emailed Superintendent Todd Cummings and Sarah Baker, an Amergis representative, about the matter; soon afterwards, the document says, the district decided she should be fired.
“The following day, April 25, 2024, Ms. Baker informed Ms. Wheat by telephone that her employment at Edison was terminated effective immediately,” the report reads. “When Ms. Wheat asked her to explain the reason, Ms. Baker replied ‘your poor communication.’ … At the same time, Amergis ended its employment relationship with Ms. Wheat.”
The court document says Wheat alleges Edison and Amergis “acted intentionally, maliciously, willfully & wantonly, and oppressively warranting an award of punitive damages.” It adds that she also alleges Edison fired her in retaliation after she reported the incident to DCS, and Edison “intentionally interfered” with Wheat’s business relationship with Amergis.
According to the document, Wheat sustained economic and emotional damages and is seeking compensation from Edison and Amergis.
In a statement to The Tribune, Wheat’s attorney said, “Public school teachers come face to face with many of the ills plaguing the children in our community — broken homes, alcohol and drug abuse, and mental illness. We rightfully expect teachers to do the right thing. A teacher does the right thing under the law by reporting the suspected abuse or neglect of a child to DCS. A teacher should never be punished for doing so.”
District responses
Deputy Superintendent Sarita Stevens told The Tribune that, although the district is unable to discuss specifics of the case, she feels SBCSC is ready to move forward.
“We have thoroughly researched all of the allegations and all of the concerns, and we feel very prepared to answer those questions and to shed light on the actual event or what actually happened,” she said.
Stevens said that Wheat was a contracted special education teacher, which meant that she had dual employment relations with the district and Amergis; as a result, Stevens said the case is not about “employee discipline.”
She also addressed the high amount of recent conversation regarding Edison, especially in light of the situation with former South Bend Principal Jesus Pedraza being placed on leave and facing reassignment. Stevens said she wants the community to know the district is “student focused.”
“If you stay focused on what students need and when they need it, … then in most cases, you have a smooth operating school, and things are operating very smoothly day-to-day in Edison,” she said. “So do you have, sometimes, disagreements? Yes, that’s in any school, anywhere you’re going to have the people who have the right to express a grievance or concern. … As a school district, you have to have things in place to address those things based on the truth and then make sure that everyone is heard in the process. And that’s what we do.”
Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Rayleigh Deaton at rdeaton@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Former South Bend teacher sues district for unjust termination
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