Shameless teacher tries to get revenge on school that fired her for calling out sick to go to concert
The sassy Ohio teacher who allegedly called in sick to go to a concert in Nashville is fighting back against the school that fired her.
Eileen Washburn, a former English teacher at Lakota West High School in Liberty Township, has filed a lawsuit against the Lakota Local School District.
In the document, she alleged that she was wrongfully fired after the school board accused her of taking “faked sick leave” from Feb. 8 to 9 to go to a music performance with her teenage son.
The board placed Washburn on unpaid leave in April, claiming she had bragged to her coworkers about her attendance at the concert and failed to provide details about why she needed sick leave.
But in October, the English teacher was officially fired from the high school, as detailed in the court case.
Washburn claimed her actions were not violations and that other teachers were “punished less severely or not at all for using sick pay while not sick,” the document said.
Eileen Washburn, an English teacher at Lakota West High School, has filed a lawsuit against the school that fired her for calling in sick to go to a concert
Washburn was officially dismissed from Lakota West High School in Liberty Township in October. She is now fighting to get her job back
‘Madam. Washburn’s conduct was not hostile to the school community and could not have caused harm to the school community or students as required to justify dismissal,” the document said.
She also claimed she had a legitimate reason for calling in sick those two days and gave the school a doctor’s note explaining why she had to miss work.
Washburn said she was “reluctant” to respond to requests for additional information about her medical condition because it was a “personal matter.”
During the first school board meeting to discuss Washburn’s “fraudulent” sick leave, she alleged that Executive Director of Human Resources Rob Kramer called her a “liar.”
In the lawsuit, Washburn demanded that she be reinstated to her teaching position. She also expects “back pay and all contractual benefits and full reinstatement of seniority in all respects.”
The school district responded in response to Washburn’s claims counterclaimstating that ‘the record speaks for itself.’
It is unclear who performed at the concert that cost Washburn her job.
She has been a teacher in Ohio for about 20 years and has no other lapses on her record, according to the lawsuit.
Washburn reportedly called in sick in February to go to a concert in Nashville with her teenage son
The Lakota Local School District decided to place Washburn on unpaid leave in April
Washburn taught ESL in high school and still holds a position on the Loveland Board of Education.
According to her profile page on the Loveland City School District website, Washburn is married with children and has lived in the city of Loveland since 2005.
She previously taught at Princeton High School before moving to teach English at Lakota West High School in 2015.