The Gateway School Board in Monroeville, Pa., has approved a $50,000 settlement of a years-long racial discrimination lawsuit.
As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, school directors during their board meeting Monday approved the settlement of the January 2021 lawsuit by Korie Morton-Rozier. In the suit, filed in federal court against the district and former school director Paul Caliari, Morton-Rozier said she was rejected for the athletic director position because she is married to a Black man.
The Gateway School Board in Monroeville, Pa., has approved a $50,000 settlement of a years-long racial discrimination lawsuit.
As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, school directors during their board meeting Monday approved the settlement of the January 2021 lawsuit by Korie Morton-Rozier. In the suit, filed in federal court against the district and former school director Paul Caliari, Morton-Rozier said she was rejected for the athletic director position because she is married to a Black man.
No discussion took place Monday regarding the settlement, according to Post-Gazette reporter Megan Tomasic.
According to the lawsuit, Morton-Rozier, the athletic director at Penn State Greater Allegheny, applied for the same position at Gateway in December 2019 and was named a finalist for the job.
On Feb. 11, 2020, former school director Richard McIntyre asked Caliari for his vote. In a group text among board members, Caliari, who is white, responded “didn’t she start dating the darkies” in reference to Morton-Rozier, the complaint reads.
A short time later, per Tomasic's reporting, Caliari sent another text saying, “Misfire. Nobody on this text chain married into the Darki family.”
School director Susan Delaney, who is Black, then asked, “Paul, please explain your text, so I don’t misunderstand you.”
Caliari said he had gone to college with two brothers named Brian and Pete Darki and that a friend had dated the wife of one brother. “He asked me whatever happened to her and I told him she started dating one of the darkies,” the text thread read, as reported by Tomasic.
The next day — Feb. 12, 2020 — the district named Don Holl as athletic director in a 7-1 vote. Delaney voted for Morton-Rozier.
Shortly after Morton-Rozier filed her suit, the Pennsylvania and Allegheny East branches of the NAACP announced their full support.
As reported by Tomasic, a change.org petition was created calling on Caliari to resign, which he did on Jan. 7, 2021, following the “recently published text message that he erroneously sent to the Gateway school board.” That same month the school board approved a proposal recommending anti-discrimination training sessions endorsed by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association for teachers and board members.
Morton-Rozier is currently the athletic director at Oakland Catholic High School.
The $50,000 settlement will be covered by the Gateway School District's insurance.
