School district’s lawsuit immunity claim challenged

Jace Radke

Friday, Jan. 5, 2001 | 11:07 a.m.

The Interfaith Council on Worker Justice has filed a brief in U.S. District Court challenging the Clark County School District's claim of immunity from federal lawsuits.

School district attorneys have argued in recent cases that the district is a state agency, and as such, is immune to certain federal lawsuits, including discrimination suits, under the 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In the brief, filed today, Interfaith asserts that if the district is considered an arm of the state and gains such immunity it "would strip all school district employees in Nevada of all federal court protections of employee rights."

School district attorney Bill Hoffman was unavailable this morning for comment.

Michael Slater, Executive Director of the Interfaith Council, says that applying this immunity to the school district means fewer rights for district employees.

"Its claim to be a state agency puts its workers at risk of losing their rights to bring claims under the U.S. Constitution and the Fair Labor Standards Act," Slater said.

The brief, known as an amicus curiae, is meant to assist the court by broadening its perspective on a given issue, and is being submitted in four pending cases.

Two of those cases, both involving complaints accusing Variety School for Special Education employees of excessive abuse and violation of students civil rights, are pending in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Both complaints were filed by Clark County Legal Services Program Inc., the first in November 1997 on behalf of Derrick Eason and his mother Serena, and the second in March of 1998 on behalf of Shawn Witte and his mother Teresa.

U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt dismissed both of the complaints, after U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben dismissed another case against the school district concluding that Nevada public schools are treated as state agencies and receive the Eleventh Amendment protection.

Interfaith's attorney, Andrew Kahn, writes in the brief that the school district more closely resembles a local government than a state agency and should not receive the immunity.

The brief states that most other school districts across the country are not seen as state agencies and that the Nevada State Legislature has made it clear that schools are locally controlled referencing Nevada Revised Statute 385.005.

The statute states, "public education in the state of Nevada is essentially a matter for local control by local school districts."