The Burke County Board of Education is refuting accusations of retaliation and ignoring safety concerns contained in a lawsuit filed in June by a former employee.
Taylor Parlier, a former Drexel Elementary custodian, alleges in the lawsuit that the school fired her in retaliation after she raised safety concerns regarding another custodian’s behavior, an Aug. 1 Carolina Public Press story said.
On Tuesday, the Burke County Board of Education responded to the lawsuit.
The school board said Parlier was terminated due to insubordination.
The release said safety concerns were not mentioned by the employee until she filed the lawsuit and started talking to the media.
The board statement said Parlier did not raise any concern that would relate to the recent arrest of a man by the Drexel Police Department.
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Her complaint came weeks before police arrested a man for a school shooting threat.
Parlier, who is representing herself in court, filed the lawsuit in June in Burke County. Defendants in the suit are listed as the county board of education and six individual officials, including Superintendent Mike Swan and Leanna McKinney, the principal of Drexel Elementary, the story said.
The school board said Tuesday that Parlier wrote a message complaining about a coworker’s performance and mentioned that the coworker’s boyfriend and occasionally her children would come to the school building during work hours.
“At no point did she indicate that this was a safety or security problem,” the release from the board said.
“Simply put, these were family members of the coworker and thus her complaint did not involve a ‘safety concern.’”
In another incident, the employee notified the principal of a car in front of the school outside of school operating hours, the school board release said.
The principal informed the employee that she had contacted law enforcement about it and, in turn, officers went to the school that evening to address the concern, the release said.
“Again, this was not a ‘safety concern’ related to the running of Drexel Elementary by the principal and other school staff,” the board statement said.
The statement also addresses the arrest of a man who threatened a mass shooting at the elementary school, Brandon Dean Johnson, 40, of Drexel.
The Carolina Public Press reported that Parlier had requested to be transferred to a different Burke County school due to her disagreements with the other custodian and general safety concerns at Drexel.
She reiterated her desire to be transferred after the March arrest of a man accused of communicating a threat, the story said.
“The Burke County Board of Education and all our employees take the safety and security of students we serve very seriously,” the release said.
“Please know that we will continue to work closely with law enforcement and follow the security and safety protocols already in place to ensure the safety of our community.”
Carolina Public Press reported Parlier’s lawsuit alleges she suffered loss of income, health insurance and job stability, which led to the disruption to medical care and out-of-pocket health expenses and aggravation of physical and mental health conditions, in addition to “public embarrassment, reputational damage and emotional trauma” as a result of being terminated.
The lawsuit requests back pay and front pay in lieu of Parlier being reinstated as a custodian, along with benefits lost and compensatory damages for emotional distress, medical harm, reputational damage and economic loss.
