THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 8, 1994 TAG: 9411080312
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS AND ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
A Virginia Beach school official fired in November 1993 has sued the city School Board, claiming his constitutional rights were violated.
The lawsuit by former Assistant Superintendent Andrew T. Carrington seeks $2.5 million in compensatory damages, plus $350,000 in punitive damages. It was filed last week in federal court in Norfolk.
The lawsuit names 20 defendants: the School Board, Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette and 18 current or former board members, including some who were not on the board when Carrington was fired.
Carrington does not claim he was fired for no good reason. Instead, he claims the School Board used the wrong procedure and violated his constitutional right to due process.
Carrington claims the board refused to give him a public hearing as required by law, instead meeting behind closed doors to decide his firing. He claims the board did not let him present evidence or cross-examine witnesses, did not give him a transcript of the hearing, improperly let Faucette be present at the hearing and never has given him a written decision.
``Carrington's right to due process was violated in that he received neither proper notice nor an opportunity for a fair hearing prior to his termination,'' the lawsuit states.
Faucette could not be reached for comment Monday. Carrington's attorney, Carter R. Anderson Jr. of Virginia Beach, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Carrington was away on business Monday and could not be reached for comment.
The School Board voted Nov. 4, 1993, not to renew Carrington's contract, but it did not say why. At the time, school officials privately attributed his dismissal to spending decisions, such as his alleged purchase of a vehicle with school system funds without proper authorization.
Carrington had been a school employee for 17 years and an assistant superintendent since 1989.
He has worked since July as superintendent of Dorchester School District Four, a 2,700-student district in Dorchester County, S.C.
The recent lawsuit is one of three he has filed since his contract was terminated. Carrington sued earlier in Virginia Beach Circuit Court to get his job back, but he has dropped that suit.
Carrington also is suing a local architect, Charles R. Krummell. This $2.5 million suit, which is pending in Virginia Beach Circuit Court, claims that Krummell gave false statements to the School Board that led to Carrington's dismissal.
Specifically, the suit says Krummell lied last November when he told the board that Carrington ordered work done on a female school system employee's home at public expense. ILLUSTRATION: FILE PHOTO/
Andrew T. Carrington, former assistant superintendent of Virginia
Beach schools, is seeking $2.85 million in his lawsuit.
KEYWORDS: LAWSUIT VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOL BOARD by CNB