Southern Indiana Teacher Claims Unfair Treatment

A Jeffersonville, Indiana teacher has filed a complaint against Greater Clark County Schools and a principal accusing them of unfair treatment.Kelly Short was suspended last November from teaching at Jeffersonville High School. She previously oversaw the school’s newspaper and yearbook but disagreed with Principal James Sexton about certain censorship issues. In particular, she disagreed with Sexton's insistence that he be allowed to review the paper before publication.“She’s had no prior serious disciplinarians, certainly that rise to the level of suspension and the reasons that they’ve given for her suspension are not reasons to suspend a teacher for an indefinite period,” said attorney Dan Canon.Short’s suspension is partly a result of those disputes, said Canon. Further she’s been accused of making certain threats to a student and contract discrepancies for the 2008 year book, but that shouldn’t warrant suspension, he said.“We don’t think there was any legitimate bases for her suspension. There’s certainly no legitimate basis for her to have been suspended going on three months pending a quote unquote investigation in to allegations that are really outrageous in the first place,” said Canon.The district has begun enforcing its long-time policy which allows certain school committees to review publications prior to print, instead of principals, said board president Christina Gilkey.