By Rupert Howell

Superintendent Keith Shaffer, high school Principal Tim Fowler and South Panola School District are all named defendants in a federal lawsuit alleging former assistant football coach Mark Weaver’s rights were violated with his dismissal in May of this year.

The complaint, which only represents one side of the issue, was filed in the Delta Division of Northern District of Mississippi U.S. Court alleging that Weaver was fired due to “Defendants’ hostility toward” the school’s varsity football program.

Weaver’s termination came May 7, three days after he was accused of, “… inappropriate interaction with a student.”

That “inappropriate interaction” amounted to “routine disciplinary incident” the suit alleges and “…was consistent with Plaintiff’s usual disciplinary practices.”

Weaver was hired in 1995 as assistant coach and science teacher.

The suit claims racial discrimination when citing another instance where a black teacher had struck a student and was not terminated.

The suit also cites the school administrators offered employment weeks after terminating Weaver without conferring with other coaches or the school’s athletic director, to a black coach who had been the subject of national media coverage for disciplining students by striking them with a leather strap.

Weaver appealed his termination to the school district’s board of trustees who reviewed the action during an executive session, watched a video of Weaver and the student’s confrontation.
Board members voted 4-1 to uphold the termination during the closed session, with trustee Buddy Gray being the lone vote against it.

On the same day the appeal was dated, Weaver filed a similar Equal Opportunity Employment Commission complaint against the school district, citing racial discrimination. He named another South Panola teacher  who struck a student with her fist. The complaint also mentioned the coach who was offered employment at South Panola after being terminated for his disciplinary practices at his previous school.

Weaver’s suit states that he was terminated because he expressed himself over school scheduling changes, not because of reasons of his job performance.

The suit also alleges that Shaffer hired principals at the high school who, “… have resisted any school district policies that would be helpful to the coaching staff, have made statements derogatory of the football coaches and seek to undermine the football program, especially the current Head Coach, Lance Pogue, to whom Plaintiff has an intense loyalty.”

Shaffer, Fowler and trustee board President Sandra Darby each decided not to comment on the suit with Superintendent Shaffer stating, “It’s litigation involving personnel — I do not feel comfortable speaking  about it.”

The suit, filed by Weaver’s attorney Jim Waide of Tupelo, seeks a jury trial.