NEW ALBANY, Ind. — A federal judge has granted requests to vacate a settlement conference and push back the trial date for a gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed against the Seymour Community School Corp.
The lawsuit, filed last year in U.S. District Court in New Albany, alleges that former Seymour High School Assistant Principal Catherine DuBois was subjected to retaliation and discrimination based on her gender following an incident in which she attempted to help an instructional aide in her building who was allegedly distressed and had been crying about her boyfriend.
DuBois, whose contract was terminated by the Seymour Community School Corp. School Board in 2022 following an investigation into the incident, is seeking financial damages and to be reinstated to the same or a similar position and pay all of her lost wages and other employment-related benefits, according to a copy of the complaint.
The Seymour Community School Corp., for its part, has denied allegations that DuBois was subjected to gender discrimination or retaliation, according to a response filed in federal court.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kellie M. Barr, who is presiding over the case, recently granted a request to vacate a July 9 conference in which the parties were expected to explore the possibility of reaching a settlement to resolve the lawsuit, according to court filings. Barr also granted requests to vacate a March 24 trial date, moving it back to July 23, 2025.
DuBois’ attorney, Indianapolis attorney Stephanie Jane Hahn, had made the requests because she been taking care of one of her parents, who is currently suffering from ongoing serious healthcare conditions. The school corporation’s attorney did not object to the scheduling changes.
The settlement conference has not yet been rescheduled.
“Counsel for the plaintiff has been out of the office for significant periods of time during the past several months due to the ongoing serious healthcare conditions of her only living parent,” Hahn states in court records. “As a result of the ongoing and serious healthcare needs of her parent, counsel for plaintiff anticipates that she will continue to be out of the office for significant periods of time over the next few months.”
The lawsuit revolves around a dispute over an incident in 2022 involving DuBois and an instructional aide in her building who was allegedly distressed and had been crying about her boyfriend, according to court filings. DuBois alleges that she believed that the individual may have been having suicidal ideations.
DuBois claims that she offered to take the instructional aide to the hospital, but the aide declined and wanted to be taken home instead. DuBois said the aide then agreed to allow her to confiscate any guns, knives, cleaning supplies, such as bleach, and prescription medications that the woman could use to commit suicide from her home.
The lawsuit alleges the Suicide Prevention Hotline was called on behalf of the instructional aide and no other additional or different action was taken.
DuBois said she secured the firearms, knives, medications and cleaning supplies in the locked trunk of her car for the purpose of transporting the items to her residence for safekeeping. She then transported the items to a locked safe inside her residence until the aide said she felt better to retrieve them again, court records state.
DuBois contends she consulted with her supervisor, who was off sick, about how to deal with the aide and was never told by that person that her actions were inappropriate or constituted a violation of any of the corporation’s procedures or policies.
However, the school corporation has a different version of events, alleging in court filings that DuBois never told her supervisors about the guns “until well-after the incident” and that the weapons, medications and cleaning supplies were never securely stored.
Instead, DuBois allegedly placed the unsecured guns and other items in her mini-van and parked the vehicle within 500 feet of the high school, which would be a violation of Indiana law, according to court filings. In addition, the school corporation claims that DuBois did not have a firearm permit at the time.
Dubois allegedly stored the guns later in a medicine cabinet in her own home, not a safe, as she stated in her complaint, according to the school corporation’s response. She also allegedly never reported her safety concerns to the school corporation’s superintendent, which was required under the school corporation policy, or to the school resource officer or local law enforcement, according to court filings.
“(The high school’s principal) was not informed by Ms. DuBois as to the true extent of Ms. DuBois’ actions,” according to the school corporation’s response to the lawsuit. “Ms. DuBois had texted (the principal) after the fact and simply told her that Ms. DuBois had taken (the aide) home, secured the house, and left (the aide) on the phone with suicide prevention hotline. Ms. DuBois told (the principal) nothing about the guns at this time. (The principal) was never informed that Ms. DuBois had taken (the aide’s) firearms until well-after the incident.”
When the Superintendent Brandon Harpe was informed of the incident, told DuBois in “an email that ‘this is a pretty serious situation on a lot of levels’ and instructed Ms. DuBois to write a report on everything that had happened with (the aide) as soon as possible in order ‘to get SCSC’s legal counsel involved,’” according to court filings.
A school resource officer later interviewed DuBois about the incident, and she was placed on administrative leave with pay, according to court records. Following an investigation, the superintendent recommended terminating her employment.
DuBois argues, among other things, that the school corporation discriminated against her based on her gender, alleging that three former male teachers had been allowed to resign instead of being fired following internal investigations into alleged inappropriate relationships with students.
The school corporation, however, claims that it did offer her the chance to resign.
One of the former male educators mentioned in the lawsuit was former Seymour High School wrestling coach Todd Weaver, who was arrested after being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student that resulted in a pregnancy.
Weaver was placed on administrative leave and then reinstated after an investigation after allegations had been unfounded at the time. This was before the student gave birth to what was later determined to be his child through a paternity test, according to the probable cause affidavit.
On Dec. 21, 2021, Weaver entered a guilty plea to a Level 6 felony charge of dissemination of matter harmful to a minor. The plea deal called for a prison sentence of 365 days in the Jackson County Jail with 351 days suspended. He also received seven days of credit and seven days of good time credit for days served and was placed on supervised probation for 365 days.
Upon successful completion of probation, the charge was reduced to a Class A misdemeanor.
According to the lawsuit filed by DuBois, Weaver then was allegedly allowed to resign from his position.
The school corporation, for its part, disputed those allegations in its response, stating in a court filing that school officials “called the police immediately upon learning of the incident” involving Weaver, who later resigned before the termination process could be completed.
The school corporation further states in court filings that another teacher that DuBois claimed was found to be having an inappropriate relationship with a student was fired for misconduct but does not specify what the nature of the misconduct was.
Another former teacher mentioned in the lawsuit whom school administration believed was grooming a student “was shown no favorable treatment” and resigned before the school corporation could complete the termination process.
Yet another teacher at the high school who DuBois claims was allowed to resign for allegedly engaging in inappropriate conduct with students, actually resigned during the investigation into the allegations against him, according to court records.
As of Friday, DuBois’ lawsuit was still pending in federal court.
