A federal lawsuit filed by suspended West Jefferson Hills Superintendent Terry Kinavey contends there is no basis for her suspension and the termination hearing being held for her is inappropriate.

The suit was filed yesterday in U.S. District Court against the school board and district solicitor Ira Weiss by attorney Ernest DeHaas, who is representing Mrs. Kinavey in the ongoing termination hearing being held by the school board.

Mrs. Kinavey, who became superintendent July 1, 2008, was suspended with pay on Sept. 22 after it was alleged that she blocked the hiring of an English and reading teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School.

Following an investigation led by Mr. Weiss and authorized by the school board, Mrs. Kinavey was suspended without pay, pending termination on Nov. 17.

A termination hearing started on Jan. 10 and has been continued through seven sessions. It resumes with an eighth session at 5 p.m. Monday.

The district has charged Mrs. Kinavey with incompetency, immorality, intemperance and neglect of duty -- all listed as reasons for dismissal in the state school code.

The charges relate to her actions in blocking the hiring of Denise Breisinger at the high school and to accusations that Mrs. Kinavey plagiarized the work of other educators in creating letters and documents for the district. The board hired Mrs. Breisinger at the same meeting it suspended Mrs. Kinavey.

The lawsuit contends there is no basis for the charges, that Mrs. Kinavey had "sole responsibility" to make recommendations on the hiring of teachers and in all of her evaluations with the district she was rated as satisfactory or better.

The lawsuit also claims that because Mr. Weiss and some board members were involved in the investigation into the superintendent, Mrs. Kinavey was never given the opportunity to explain her actions to "an unbiased tribunal" before being suspended.

It alleges that it is inappropriate for Mr. Weiss to act as the district solicitor and a prosecutor in the case, lead the investigation and serve as a witness.

The suit also said that as district solicitor, Mr. Weiss at one point also represented Mrs. Kinavey and counseled her through events that led to her suspension, using information he received from her to create the allegations against her.

Mr. Weiss, who had not seen the suit, said he did not believe it had any merit and that the termination hearing "is the prescribed method of dismissing a superintendent under the school code."

Named as defendants in addition to Mr. Weiss and his law firm, are school directors Shauna D'Alessandro, Anthony Angotti, Carolyn Bourgeois, Alan Caponi, David Graham, Anna Louise Lilley, Marianne Neel, Deborah Pozycki and Anthony Rash.

The suit also claims gender discrimination in that Mrs. Kinavey was 57 at the time of her suspension. It points to another case in the district where an unidentified male employee, age 40, was given a five-day suspension for failure to properly report an alleged sexual assault by one student against another student.

In contrast, the suit said, the district is attempting to terminate Mrs. Kinavey's employment "for a far lesser alleged offense."

The suit asks for back pay and benefits, damages, attorney fees and interest and for Mrs. Kinavey to be reinstated to her job.

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