The Alsea School district allowed its former superintendent to create an environment in which gender discrimination, harassment, and general misogyny were rampant, leading to lawsuits.
Marc Thielman, who resigned in February to concentrate on his campaign for governor,” “engaged in sexual harassment in a regular sustained and ongoing basis” throughout Shanon’s employment with Shanon Rice’s school district, according to the lawsuit.
According to the legal complaint, he would talk about his sexual life and genitalia “almost daily” and frequently made sexually suggestive comments about women’s bodies and innuendos. Rice would take a “mental holiday” whenever Thielman tried to steer a conversation toward sex. The lawsuit states that Rice “learned this coping strategy for dealing with harassment from an employee who had worked longer for (the school districts)”.
Rice, the principal at Alsea Elementary school, filed the suit against the school district last week in Benton County Circuit Court. It was first reported on the Albany Democrat HeraldMonday was the day that the district petitioned to have the case transferred to federal court.
Although Thielman is not named as a defendant, the lawsuit alleges that Thielman was enabled by district officials by ignoring concerns and complaints. Rice was retaliated against by Rice by not renewing her contract. This effectively terminated her contract as of June 30, 2022.
Rice and other female employees would complain to the school district and school board members about Thielman’s behavior, which led other men employed by the district to “increasingly engage in inappropriate,disrespectful and generally misogynistic behaviors,” the lawsuit claims.
The legal complaint claims that alerting the board and district did not have any effect and that “nothing was done” to address the concerns.
The complaint states that “Over time, it became a place in which male employees were allowed to mistreat and intimidate, ignores, undermine, undermine, override, harass, and harass female employees with impunity.”
According to the lawsuit, the school became a “boys club”, where male employees in Thielman’s circle could basically do anything they wanted.
Rice claims that Thielman’s behavior towards her escalated after Rice requested equal compensation for administrative work she was doing as male employees. She also complained informally that the school district was violating Title IX which prohibits sex-based discrimination.
Rice filed a formal complaint in writing detailing 14 examples of unequal treatment after multiple attempts to get the school district’s attention to the “differential treatment” of male and female student-athletes.
The lawsuit states that Rice and her husband, who worked for the district, filed written complaints in February about Thielman’s conduct. Rice received word that the board would be discussing her complaint shortly after she filed those complaints.
The lawsuit claims that Thielman “abruptly” resigned during that meeting after he read a prepared speech about his campaign for higher office.
Rice claims she was subject to retaliation after filing her complaint against Thielman. Rice says coworkers mocked her and filed complaints against Thielman and that she was “shut off communication with the board or other administrators.”
The lawsuit states that the board met March 10 and voted to renew multiple employees’ contracts. However, Rice was intentionally excluded from the vote, thereby terminating Rice.
Rice claims she was “stunned,” while she watched the meeting via Zoom.
Thielman and Alsea Schools District have been in the news before.
The Associated Press reported that Thielman had told parents in August that they could bypass the governor’s school mask requirement by applying under federal disabilities law for accommodation for their children.
The Oregonian reported in January that the Oregon Department of Education had said that the school district would be losing federal COVID-19 relief funds because it voted to ignore state mask-wearing regulations.
Thielman is one among more than a dozen candidates for the Republican nomination to governor. His campaign website states that Thielman has a track record of serving people rather than the system and is “loved” and admired throughout the state for his nonjudgmental approach to the issue and his belief in doing what’s right.
Contact city government watchdog Megan Banta at [email protected]. Follow her Twitter @MeganBanta_1.