A former Vestavia Hills teacher has sued the school district in federal court, saying her contract was not renewed after she lodged multiple complaints alleging her school did not follow COVID policies.
In January and February 2021, Samantha Baulch, a civics and geography teacher at Louis Pizitz Middle School, filed complaints with the Alabama Education Association after two separate incidents in which a student notified her that they’d contracted the virus. Even though the students had been in class without a mask during their lunch periods, Baulch says the school did not ask for her seating chart to enact quarantine procedures and all her students remained in school.
She also sought accommodations from the school, including teaching in a larger classroom after she broke her foot and had a hard time social distancing. The lawsuit states that despite there being available space, her request for a larger room was not granted.
Baulch is a cancer survivor and is medically classified as immunocompromised. In her lawsuit, she said she believed she should have been protected from job discrimination and received reasonable accommodations for medical conditions under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
After filing multiple complaints with AEA, her representative warned Baulch that her relationship with the district was becoming tense and advised her to take time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act to protect against termination.
On May 14, 2021, principal Chris Pennington recommended her contract not be renewed for the next school year, saying only that “the school is going to go in a different direction,” according to the complaint. Before her removal, Baulch had never received a single corrective or disciplinary action at the school, and her previous written evaluations documented “outstanding” performance.
Baulch is seeking to make up pay lost after her contract was terminated, as well as other costs. Her suit was filed in the Northern District of Alabama.
Parents in the district filed a lawsuit against Vestavia Hills Schools in February alleging a failure to provide information regarding the district’s COVID-19 policies as required by the Alabama Open Records Act. That suit is ongoing.
The school district has not yet filed a response to Baulch’s suit.