Almost three years after filing an employment discrimination suit against Flagler County schools, and a few settlement offers that her attorney unsuccessfully implored her to accept, Indian Trails Middle School teacher JaWanda Dove may now head for trial representing herself, as her own attorney asked the court to be relieved of representing her. Dove has asked the court for extra time to find new representation.
Dove, whose gmail address is “Iamnotastatistic,” according to her pleadings, sued the district in the Middle District of Florida in June 2020.
She argued in her complaint that she’d applied for leadership positions 18 times in her decade and a half career in the district (she was hired in 2006). In 2019, she saw four white colleagues promoted to assistant principal, and was passed over each time even though she claimed more years of experience and more educational accomplishments. As a long-time teacher at Indian Trails Middle School, she worked for many years with Paul Peacock, the principal during much of that span, and accused him in an affidavit of denying her promotions because she is Black. Peacock is himself currently under investigation by the district. (See: “Wadsworth Principal Paul Peacock Ordered on Leave Over Employee Complaints as District Hires Investigator.”)
Dove is seeking $100,000 in back pay and benefits–and appointment to an assistant principal position.
In dispute is whether Dove was qualified for the positions she applied for, whether her race was a factor in her not getting promoted, whether the district had valid reasons not to promote her, and whether Dove lost wages from not being promoted. The district has made settlement offers, which Dove has refused.
Mediation sessions are not carried out in open court, and when the school board meets to discuss strategy in pending litigation, it does so behind closed door, in one of the rare instances when it may hold a meeting outside sunshine. The district maintains an officially mum stance when it comes to pending litigation. So other than the two sides’ pleadings and motions, the evolution of the case can be opaque.
But one of the more revealing documents was filed by Dove’s attorney a few weeks ago, Blair Jackson, after he asked the court to grant his motion to withdraw as Dove’s attorney–and after the court told him he’d have to explain why. The document is unusually candid.
Jackson revealed that “There have been several instances where (Dove) agreed to a resolution but then inexplicably withdrew her consent to whatever the agreement was.” He also specifies what Dove is asking for as part of any settlement: getting appointed to an administrative position, such as assistant principal. The district is not agreeing to that demand, at least not immediately, but appears willing to make a financial settlement offer. If past history is a guide, an appointment would then follow, but with some distance in time to spare the district the appearance of a quid pro quo.
Jackson, of the DSK Law Group, told Dove repeatedly that the settlement could not include an appointment to assistant principal, and has been at a loss to explain to Dove “the limitations of success at trial beyond any monetary awards.” Jackson has also had difficulties explaining a trial strategy “consistent with our cause of action and the limited resources” that Dove can bring to her case–meaning money.
Jackson also expresses concerns that Dove “is receiving legal advice from other individuals that are attorneys and non attorneys that is impeding his ability to communicate” with her regarding settlement options and recoverable damages, “creating the scenario where there are irreconcilable differences present.” Jackson then takes the even more unusual step of naming names: “On more than one occasion (Dove) and Eric Josey, a non attorney, have indicated that they have other attorneys that they have contacted that have been briefed by them about the case and are waiting to take over should (Jackson) be permitted to withdraw.”
Josey is no stranger to the district, or the the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office: a past officer and firebrand of the local chapter of the NAACP’s leadership ranks, he was instrumental in pressuring both the district and the Sheriff’s Office through various discrimination complaints. He also served a short stint as a deputy in training at the Sheriff’s Office, under Sheriff Jim Manfre, despite being on disability.
On March 10, the magistrate judge granted Jackson’s motion to withdraw. The judge gave Dove until last Monday to inform the court who her new attorney would be, or whether she would represent herself.
Dove did not hire a new attorney. On Tuesday, she filed her own motion, asking for 47 more days to find herself a new attorney. It isn’t clear why she and Josey had told Jackson that they had new counsel ready to pick up where Jackson would leave off. “The prospective attorneys require additional time to consult, review, and evaluate my case record,” Dove wrote in her motion, also citing getting “hindered” by her full-time school duties, which end on May 24.
The judge ordered the district to respond. The district’s attorneys in the case, Richard Bush and Dylan Hall of Tallahassee-based Bush and Augspurger, had no objection to a 30-day extension: the two sides had actually met on May 5 and agreed as much. That extension was granted on Wednesday.
The district had sought to dismiss the case as far back as March 2022, outlining more facts behind the claim. Between January and November 2019, Dove applied for three assistant principal openings and five leadership openings. For the assistant principal positions, she was one of 41, then 35, then 38 applicants in the three openings. For the leadership positions, she was one of between 10 and 23 applicants each time. She was interviewed by a hiring panel made up of Jewell Johnson, the human resources director at the district (who is Black), and between three and seven employees, including teachers, principals or directors. The committees made their recommendations to the superintendent, who made the appointments.
The district argued that “no reasonable jury” would find that the district had been discriminatory. Dove was not promoted because “an unbiased hiring interview committee concluded that (she) was not the most qualified candidate for the positions for which she applied,” and because Dove “was determined to not be the best qualified individual amongst the candidates,” the motion states. Her “subjective belief” to the contrary is “unworthy of credence,” the motion states.
The same motion then lists eight Black district administrators as purported evidence of Blacks advancing through the district’s ranks–including, however, Travis Lee, who became principal at Rymfire Elementary only after settling his own discrimination lawsuit against the district.
On the other hand, his predecessor, Lashakia Moore, was also Black, and is now not only the Number 2 administrator in the district, but is set to take over as interim superintendent, becoming the first Black person, man or woman, to hold that position in this district. Since that list was drafted, both Palm Coast High School and Matanzas High School, Althia Thompson at FPC. (The principal and three assistant principals at Indian Trails Middle School, where Dove still teaches, are all white. For much of her career at Indian Trails, Dove’s principal at the time was Paul Peacock, who was briefly elevated to a district position in 2021, then assigned to be Wadsworth Elementary’s principal. He was suspended with pay on Monday.)
Judge Monte C. Richardson ruled against the district’s motion for summary judgment, finding that “The School Board has not provided ‘a clear and reasonably specific factual basis upon which it based its subjective opinion’ that Dove was less qualified overall than the selected candidates.” The district also suggested that Dove had not done well in her interviews. The judge found no evidence of that, at least none that the district had provided.
The trial, should it take place, is expected to last three days.
don miller says
she thought she was the most qualified. she should have received the appointment because we all know the the stronger you feel you are right, the more right you are.
The dude says
Kinda like the 2020 election and all the non existent “fraud”?
Mulatto says
You mean like “I’m white and I say so!” What’s funny is here she is putting her life and career on the line instead of a payment and she gets criticized. We can always count on the fragility of the supposed “non racists'” white male to call out the “imagined gripes” of a black person in this country. Experiment: Go to the blackest, most proudest cultural country, society you can find. Let’s see how far you make it. Forget a sunburn, you wouldn’t get past the menu for your first meal. But you guys have all the answers.
Daniel says
There is actually only one human race on this planet, humans.
I don’t know why people think a skin color makes any difference it just seems like someone wants to win an argument and is throwing everything they have at it.
It reeks of it!
Land of no turn signals says says
She should have taken the money and run.The race card seems not to be working in this instance for a change.
Mulatto says
If she would haven taken the money and ran, then you would be aligning her with Al Sharpton and Ben Crump. You are beneficiary of white supremacy in this country. No one would expect you to break code and admit you have access to the entire “race deck’ forget the race card. Did it ever cross your mind that her attorneys are in it for the wrong reason and they lost her confidence? Or they like you they know when to get on code with the system that gives you the confidence to make comments about a path in life you obviously would never be able to navigate?
Atwp says
Agree taking the money is a good idea. We don’t know all the nuts and bolts of the situation.
Skibum says
When seeking to advance within an individual’s chosen career field, many things are often considered in addition to just job knowledge and experience. Especially important are the individual’s personality, attitude, temperament, whether or not they are a “team player” or like to make decisions without consulting others or considering alternate viewpoints, how well they would fit in with other leaders, etc. Since this teacher had over 10 years of employment within the same school district, it is likely that those who were making promotional decisions had quite a bit of information and knowledge about many aspects of this teacher’s personal traits that very well may have been critical to passing her over for an administrative position. Obviously, I don’t know for certain, but I do know that for someone who worked within that school district for so long and continually was passed over, she should have taken the hint and just moved on to greener pastures. This type of thing happens, it happens in private and government jobs, and doesn’t necessarily mean there was any discrimination involved. In her case, she even is at odds with her own attorney, so it appears there may be some personality conflicts within her legal representation, and it is not hard to wonder if the same might have been true between her and others in the school district administration. She should have looked for other job opportunities rather than stay in the same school district, and now she faces an even more uncertain legal fight since she has refused multiple settlement offers that even her own attorney implored her to accept. She may live to regret her decision making, both in court and with the school district she worked too long for.
Mulatto says
How about her attorneys because of their hidden political views don’t want to aid her, in going against the grain, bite the hand that feeds them by helping her expose what is already obvious.
Kinda how white people claim black people commit all the crimes. But you don’t mention every gate keeper possible, from cop, jury, State/Da Judge etc. filter the stats to lean one way or the other. Suddenly, for you guys the attorneys are the ultimate example of taking the high road? When Johnnie Cochran was still alive you should have invited him over for dinner. January 6th has shown the world what Merica really is!
tlc says
all about the money. Funny how the race card is played over and over and over. so over it
Mulatto says
News flash WHITE PEOPLE, SOCIETY, SUPRAMICIST here in the USA live and die by the “Race Card”! Remember how this beautiful country was built??? That’s the whole point of her court case. Don’t just pay her off, explain to her her why she is being treated differently than every other candidate in a court of law because obviously the local mantra of “Because I’m white and I say so!” isn’t a good enough explanation up against her resume.
Mulatto says
What’s funny is you deflecting by saying that the “Race card is played over and over.” So, why are their no black people in any influential positions is this county? If you got rid of a White gay female, we know what’s in store for for subordinate. If it was about money she would have taken the settlement. Read the article.
Nancy N says
She turned down the money! Funny how only racists tell people to “get over” discrimination over and over.
MO says
I can tell you first hand as a parent of a child who had her in class this has nothing to do with race. Students and parents who did not even know there was even a lawsuit going on, have had complaints about her teaching or lack of teaching actual content that would be on her tests. Students who study the content and work hard to prepare would end up with poor/failing grades. When they would approach her (respectfully) with concerns she would tell them “it’s about MINDSET and grades don’t matter” ….tell that to the children who are applying for national jr honor society or a child applying to colleges going forward. I would put money on it that she would be fired by now as a teacher if the schools weren’t so scared it would hurt them legally. If you can’t teach your own students it doesn’t matter what district you are in…..they won’t promote you. If someone had a job in sales and just didn’t have it in them to sell anything….should they still be promoted? I’m not an entitled person or a “Karen” who just likes to complain. Heck, this is my first comment ever….please just give it up already. It has nothing to do with your race and everything to do with your skills.
Mulatto says
Did you read the article? The administration couldn’t point to any teaching or employment issues that’s why she’s bringing the lawsuit. For the last time YOU!!! YES YOU WHITE PEOPLE HAVE CREATED THIS RACE BASED CONSRTUCT NOT BLACK PEOPLE. SO, BECAUSE NOW YOU SAY IT’S NOT ABOUT RACE THE PUBLIC IS SUPPOSED TO TAKE YOUR WORD? GET A LIFE. The survival of the culture you benefit from is based destabilizing, whatever person, country or demographic it has too in order for the dominant society to keep going. That’s why your orange god and his millions of followers are back in the news.
MO says
You people? What do you mean by you people?
Yes, I did read the article posted. I understand that media outlets play a significant role in shaping our perspectives. However, it’s also crucial to examine the facts behind the stories to gain a more comprehensive understanding. <—— I actually did this.
Atwp says
Mulatto, your comments are right on point.
Take a good look says
Ditto! You hit the nail on the head MO! Way too often we are too (inaccurately) concerned about how people’s race is a factor in situations, instead failing to see how their qualities (or lack of) may have been the deciding factor in these and similar situations. Very sad how it has come to this.
Karen says
I believe her. I see the courts feel she had a case that’s why she was given the right to sue. Too often people are being discriminated not directly but they are being discriminated in a very sneaky way. Hie many African Americans Mr Oeacock promoted in leadership position . Prob none . Him himself dichromate’s on that lady , she just can’t sue him directly so she had to sue the employer . Flagler County Schools
Concerned Citizen says
As a White male happily married to an African American Female.
Racism is a disgusting aberration that has no place in society. I have witnessed and defended my wife against it both while we were in the service. And thru her 30 plus year medical career. I have witnessed it first hand for being married to her. And that was from both White People and African Americans. So it does exist on both sides.
I will tell you that if you are running around judging people by ethnicity or skin color you need to take a long hard look at yourself. And I bet you will see where the problem really is. And I will gladly point that out to you in person as well as on here.
Clarity Speaks says
Despite diluted reviews suggesting otherwise, it is clear that the establishment resorted to playing the race card, and continues to do so. This is particularly evident among those who form their opinions based on their privileged status. If the school system was willing to settle, it stands to reason that they found weaknesses in their own defense. And if Ms. Dove refused to accept the offered settlement, it may be that she prioritized righting a wrong over accepting hush money. It is unfortunate that some individuals are attempting to discredit her by accusing her of playing the race card, while in fact, they are using their own privilege to diminish her experience.
Flagler is now forced to address their dirty little secrets, as they hid behind their Soft & Quiet demeanor. They are quickly filling their roster of African Americans educators – not to do the right thing, but to provide as a defense.
Sadly, they are holding all the cards.