Shop LocalFriday, November 23, 2012
A longtime Fulton Public Schools employee sued the district in federal court Tuesday, saying she was fired in September for calling police about a student possibly having a gun at Fulton High School.
Ruth Burt says in the 12-page suit that she’s a Callaway County resident “and at all times pertinent to this lawsuit was employed by Fulton Public Schools for 22 years as Assistant to the Director of Health Service and Health clerk in the nurses office.”
Her lawyer, David Moen of Jefferson City, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court’s Jefferson City office, naming Superintendent Jacque Cowherd, Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Hull and five school board members as defendants.
Burt said she was notified Sept. 14 in a letter “from the Fulton Board of Education confirming her termination from employment effective September 12, 2012.”
And, her lawsuit said: “It is a really bad idea to terminate an employee for calling the police when that employee reasonably believes that a student could have a gun at school.”
Burt said the trouble began when she received a call at work on Thursday, Sept. 6, from a woman who wanted to tell Fulton police she “had just seen a school-aged boy walking near school property carrying a handgun.”
Police told the woman they “had searched but not found the boy,” the lawsuit said.
The next day, Burt said she was getting ice for the nurse’s office from the high school kitchen when she “overheard kitchen employee Lori Lamons say that she had seen a boy (Thursday) walking near the school with a handgun at 1:38 p.m.,” then pointed to a boy standing down the hallway.
The lawsuit said Burt and Lamons eventually reported the situation to Assistant Principal Chris Mincher, and that Lamons later told Burt that “the boy had been sent to class because Mr. Mincher did not have time to deal with him because he needed to deal with a fight first.”
Comments
Advocator 6 months ago
Am I reading this correctly? A FPS employee receives a phone call at work from a woman reporting seeing a student with what looks like a handgun. The next day another employee sees a student that she saw the day before with what looked like a handgun and says such out loud. Employee (Mrs. Burt) over hears other employee and sees student. Employee (Mrs.Burt) reports it to the assistant principal and he tells her he is too busy dealing with a fight and he sends the potential weapon carrier to class. Mrs. Burt goes to the superintendent's office to report it and neither the superintendent or his assistant are in. Mrs.Burt then reports the info about the student and the gun to the school resource officer (police) and then Mrs. Burt gets fired. What???
If the assistant coach at Penn State would have gone directly to the police instead of his higher ups would Penn State have been better off? If the student had a real gun and he used it at school who would have been at fault?
The schools are "required to have annual training for all employees regarding the discipline policy along with approved methods of dealing with acts of school violence." Has this required training been an ongoing annual process of the FPS?
Thank you, Mrs. Burt, for having the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing when it comes to the safety of the students of FPS. The real lesson to be learned here is, in my opinion, if you are an employee of the FPS don't disagree with the superintendent or you will no longer be an employee of the FPS!
Some might even say if you see a student or hear about a student with a projectile weapon don't report it and you will keep your job. I hope this is not what the FPS have become.
fultonian 5 months, 4 weeks ago
There MUST be more to this story than we are hearing. I can't believe that anybody would get fired based on the fact that they reported this incident. I'm sure they're required to report these types of incidents anyway. There just HAS to be more to the story than this.
fultongirl 5 months, 2 weeks ago
I simply cannot believe - in this day and age - that ANYBODY at a public school would not respond to an employee who makes the statement regarding seeing a student with a gun. I find the fired employee's story to be a little far fetched.
The paper said the employee received a phone call stating the gun situation. First of all - why would the phone call go to the Nurse's office? Makes NO SENSE! Who would do that? I don't care if it's a friend or relative or a stranger that made the call - why would you call that office? If it was a 'legitimate' concern - why wouldn't the caller just call the police? Or even the Principal's office? Simply unbelievable.
I believe there's a lot more to this story - I will never believe that what the fired employee is saying is true. There are teachers, administrators, and board members who have children/grandchildren that attend that school. To 'brush off' an employee who is stating all of these 'facts' because the school was dealing with a different situation on that day (apparently a fight) is simply ridiculous. School administrators would NOT do that - not in this day and age.
Hopefully we'll all hear the FACTUAL story at some point.
Advocator 5 months, 2 weeks ago
I haven't read or heard anything different. I agree it is hard to believe, but several employees of the FPS schools have lost their jobs over things just as strange in the last couple of years. The lawsuit should answer some of the questions.....unless the FPS settles it out of court, which in my opinion would answer the "believable" question. The more to the story may be this was a way to get rid of someone that you no longer wanted around. One thing for sure is several things do not add up in this whole situation.
Administrators have been known to make mistakes. If it does turn out to be true then maybe the school board should be taking a look at the "administrators."
Felix 5 months, 1 week ago
To Fultongirl....I am appalled that you would think a person who has served FPS for 22 years with not one discipline action in her file would make up a story of this nature and make it so public....There is a bit more to this story of course as there always is. And you are correct when you say there are board members that have children in that school...AND that is what makes this story so hard to believe....BUT IT DID HAPPEN....Maybe they better not spend that extra money they have just yet....I do believe FPS is gonna have to pay out on this lawsuit...
rock1853 5 months, 1 week ago
Seeing as MO is not a right to work state you can be dismissed for wearing the wrong color shirt. But I could be wrong.
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