SANTA PAULA : Ex-Teacher Alleges Age Discrimination

A longtime Santa Paula schoolteacher, who said she was forced to resign last year after a disciplinary incident with a student, is accusing school officials of age discrimination in a lawsuit filed Monday.

Norma Paillette, 64, asserts it was her age, not just the unsubstantiated claim of a student, that prompted officials at Isbell School to demote her to yard duty supervisor and demand her resignation.

“Younger employees accused of similar or worse conduct . . . were not punished by defendant Santa Paula Elementary School District by being assigned professionally degrading work in order to coerce their resignation,” attorney Edward J. Lacey argued in the lawsuit filed in Ventura County Superior Court.

Paillette, a teacher in Santa Paula since 1964, is seeking at least $25,000 in damages to make up for lost wages, reduced retirement benefits and emotional distress. School district officials had not seen the lawsuit Monday and declined comment.

According to the suit, the problem arose in May, 1993, when a student accused Paillette of inflicting a minor injury. After learning of the student’s allegations, Principal Arvid Brommers told Paillette, “Norma, you are 63 years old, you have 184 days of leave accumulated, and I want you out of here,” the suit contends.

When Paillette refused to resign, the suit contends, Brommers placed her on five days of administrative leave and made her a yard duty supervisor, classroom aide and substitute teacher. She resigned a short time later.

“She was the oldest teacher in the school,” Lacey said. “From our point of view, the most telling aspect of this is that he mentioned her age.”

Brommers declined to discuss the incident that led to Paillette’s reassignment. Lacey said it involved the teacher’s efforts to control a student and contends that the student overstated the case.