Female teachers at SHHS sue Warren Consolidated
District denies claims, hurls accusations at teachers
A pair of female teachers at Sterling Heights High School accuse the Warren Consolidated School District of gender bias by providing increased pay opportunities and other benefits to male teachers but not to them.
Long-time teachers Amy Ryntz of St. Clair Shores and Ashlee Schoen of Grosse Ile Township last July sued WCS in U.S. District Court in Detroit, alleging since the 2021-22 school year, WCS officials treated up to eight male teachers better than them in multiple ways.
“Defendant continuously demonstrated preferential treatment to male teachers by providing them with opportunities for additional compensation and making frequent and disruptive changes to Plaintiffs’ course schedules while maintaining those of male teachers,” Ryntz and Schoen allege in the complaint. “Plaintiffs reported the preferential treatment of male teachers and lack of opportunity for additional compensation to Defendants and were repeatedly ignored.”
The status of Ryntz and Schoen’s current employment is unclear. The school district says in a court document “she” has resigned but doesn’t specific to whom that refers.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs and defendant as well as a WCS official did not respond Friday to requests for
comment.
The lawsuit, filed by Livonia-based attorney Eric Stempien, alleges district officials violated the plaintiffs’ federal right to equal pay, the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act and federal Title IX, which bars “discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance,” according to the U.S. Department of Education.
The district in its Nov. 11 answer denies the claims and makes accusations against the plaintiffs, accusing them of “a history of unsatisfactory work performance” who “were not capable of performing the essential elements of the job assignment they base their complaint upon.”
The district maintains it is protected by “qualified” and “absolute” immunity and under the “Monell” doctrine, a reference to a U.S. Supreme Court case.
The district accuses the plaintiffs of making false accusations and “cannot show that their gender was a motivating decision in work arrangements,” and says the claims are banned under the statute of limitations.
The plaintiffs also failed to “exhaust their contractual or administrative remedies” and “failed to take advantage of any preventative
or correction opportunities” provided by the district, according to the district.
The female teachers’ complaint, filed July 17, alleges high school administrators provided “overage assignments” to eight male teachers but not to Ryntz and Schoen, who taught history and other classes in the social studies department. Overage assignments involved additional students being placed in the teachers’ classroom for which the teachers received more pay.
“Plaintiffs rarely received overage assignments,” the lawsuit says, while two assistant principals gave those assignments to their male colleagues.
Ryntz claims an assistant principal reassigned the course, “criminal and civil law,” which Ryntz created and taught “for many years,” to a male colleague though Ryntz “had a broader educational background” than the male teacher “and was rated as ‘highly qualified,’” says the complaint.
Schoen was passed over for overage assignments in favor of “male colleagues who had similar credentials but did not contribute to departmental meetings (and who) continuously received preferential treatment in scheduling, pay and assignments,” the lawsuit charges.
In addition, the lawsuit contends that during the COVID-19 pandemic, district officials offered “additional compensation to male teachers to teach an additional course during their planning period” while the Ryntz and Schoen did not receive those offers.
During fall 2021, an assistant principal assigned a male teacher a course during his planning period for which he received additional compensation “while taking a planned, extended medical leave of absence,” the lawsuit says.
Schoen did not receive an extra course to teach during her planning period though she was “qualified and had the capability to do so. Plaintiff Schoen also had equal or more experience than male counterparts” who were assigned to teach during their planning periods, the lawsuit says.
The plaintiffs, who were members of the Warren Education Association, say they filed a union grievance that resulted in a 2022 meeting with the district human resources director, who “informed the Union that Defendant did not ‘find validity in the death and breadth of (the) claims.’”
“Defendant made no changes to its discriminatory practices,” Ryntz and Schoen say in the lawsuit.
Ryntz has worked in the district since 2000, and Schoen has worked there since 2002.
The district’s boundaries include parts of Warren, Sterling Heights and Troy.
The case, assigned to Judge Laurie Michelson, is scheduled for a March 4 status conference and Jan. 10, 2025, jury trial.