WILLIAMSPORT -- A fired white Catholic school teacher in Williamsport will have another opportunity to pursue his claim that he would not have been disciplined if he were African-American.
U.S. Middle District Judge Christopher C. Conner Wednesday dismissed James Ledda’s suit but gave him 21 days to file an amended complaint.
The theory of disparate treatment among teachers, rather than students, was not contained in the dismissed complaint, Conner pointed out.
Ledda claims he was terminated April 1, 2019, as social studies department chair at St. John Neumann Regional Academy because he was perceived to harbor a racial bias against minority students.
In dismissing the complaint, Conner adopted the recommendation of Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson, who found equating race and racism under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act would be a false equivalence.
“No court has deemed the holding of racist views, or the perceived adherence to racist beliefs, to fall within the ambit of the term of ‘race’ as it is used in Title VII,” he wrote.
“Race and racism are not concepts that are inextricably intertwined,” he said. “Simply put, people of all races may harbor racist beliefs.”
Ledda alleged in his complaint against the school and the Scranton Diocese that he was discriminated and retaliated against because of his status as a member of a racial majority.
Carson pointed out, Ledda’s averments describe adverse employment actions based upon a perception he was a racist. “Being identified as a racist does not necessarily carry with it some identification of a person’s race,” he wrote.
Title VII is designed to prevent discrimination based upon race in the workplace, he said.
Ledda was terminated because the administration and diocese believed he was displaying racist behavior toward minority students, not because he complained of discriminatory treatment, Carlson concluded.
The judge also found Ledda’s claim of retaliation failed.
Ledda’s issues with the school began in late 2018 when he observed an African-American student using a cell phone in violation of school policy.
The student, identified as a top basketball player, alleged Ledda had “gotten in his face,” the court complaint stated. The student was not disciplined but Ledda claims he was required to take three days off with pay and attend anger management courses.
He alleged during the three days he was off, the student’s brother broke personal property in his classroom but the school did not impose discipline.
Upon returning to work on Dec. 10, 2018, he said he filed a complaint with high school administrator Eugene Kurzejewski after becoming aware of rumors that he had hit a student, was racist and was looking up girls’ skirts.
Kurzejewski told him he would make a report to the diocese, and Ledda filed his own complaint but he claims no remedial action was taken.
Williamsport police confirmed it investigated a report Ledda made to them on Dec. 14, 2018, about being threatened and classified the incident as disorderly conduct.
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