FORMER PRINCIPAL REACHES AN OUT-OF-COURT SETTLEMENT; SHE HAD SUED FORMER
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER
By Kellie Patrick Education writer
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Copyright 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel. All Rights Reserved.
Saturday, September 28, 2002
LOCAL
A former popular principal has reached an out-of-court settlement
with
the former Palm Beach County School Board member she sued for harassment
and defamation.
Amelia Ostrosky, the former principal of Dreyfoos School of the
Arts,
filed the suit this summer against Jody Gleason, a School Board
member
until December, and Superintendent Art Johnson.
Gleason has agreed to pay $15,000 to settle the suit out of court.
Gleason said she accepted the settlement because fighting the lawsuit
would have cost more and she just wanted the legal battle to end.
The $15,000 in settlement money did not come from Gleason's pocket,
but was covered under the school district's insurance policy.
"It's just a monetary decision," she said. "It's
a waste of everyone's
time and energy."
Gleason said this is "absolutely not" an admission that
she did
anything wrong.
But Judy Hyman, one of Ostrosky's attorneys, sees the settlement
as a
victory for her client.
"They were trying to disparage, defame and destroy her, and
they just
had to pay her," Hyman said.
"That's just a start."
The lawsuit continues, against Johnson alone for the time being.
Hyman
will continue to gather evidence and said she may file an amended
claim
with other School Board members' names added.
Johnson transferred Ostrosky to Jupiter Middle School in June 2001.
She resigned from the district in April.
After the transfer, Johnson began a yearlong investigation into
Ostrosky's performance at Dreyfoos. While some parts of the
investigation have leaked out, most has yet to be released.
The lawsuit claims that Johnson had a personal vendetta against
Ostrosky because she failed to support him when he was embroiled
in a
scandal five years ago. In 1997, former Superintendent Joan Kowal
pressured Johnson to resign from his job as an area administrator
because of a discipline scandal. The county principals association,
which Ostrosky headed at the time, declined to get involved in the
matter, the lawsuit states. The association had enough clout that
it
could have saved Johnson's job, it said.
The lawsuit also alleged that Gleason instructed teachers at Dreyfoos
to remove confidential student information from the school and fax
it to
her. She then turned it over to Johnson, according to the lawsuit.
Johnson has refused to discuss the lawsuit.
Gleason has said she never solicited any student information. She
said
that some teachers had called her anonymously with complaints, so
she
told them to fax her proof of the allegations. She said she did
the
appropriate thing by turning it over to the superintendent.
Kellie Patrick can be reached at kpatrick@sun-sentinel.com or
561-243-6629.
TABULAR OR GRAPHIC MATERIAL SET FORTH IN THIS DOCUMENT IS NOT DISPLAYABLE
PHOTOS 2 Jody Gleason has agreed to pay $15,000 to settle the
suit out of
court.
Amelia Ostrosky sued Gleason for harassment and defamation.