THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, August 16, 1996               TAG: 9608160538
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   46 lines

NORFOLK TEACHER TAKES DISPUTE WITH SCHOOL DISTRICT ONE MORE STEP IF NEGOTIATIONS FAIL, HINDMARSH HAS KEPT OPEN HER OPTION TO SUE, HER LAWYER SAYS.

A popular high school drama teacher who has been fighting for her job and reputation since she was suspended in March is setting the stage to sue the city school system for damages.

An attorney representing Connie Hindmarsh said Thursday he has filed a ``notice of intent'' with the city attorney's office to sue for damages, alleging that her reputation and standing in the community have been damaged and that she has suffered mental distress.

Hindmarsh was suspended as director of the city schools' Performing Arts Repertory after at least one former member told school officials that students in the company were having sex and had used drugs on a field trip to Northern Virginia last winter.

Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. suspended Hindmarsh with pay and recommended that she be fired. Nichols wrote in a March 27 letter to her that she had failed to properly supervise students and staff under her charge and also had not reported alleged misconduct in a timely manner.

Hindmarsh's attorney, Allan D. Zaleski, on Thursday described the notice of intent as a legal step to protect her right to sue. Virginia law, Zaleski said, requires that people seeking civil damages file such notice within six months of the alleged wrong if the claim is against a town or city.

``It's a first step,'' Zaleski said. ``It doesn't mean we're going to do it necessarily, but we want to hold open that option.''

Zaleski said that Hindmarsh hopes to return to a classroom teaching position but that ongoing negotiations with school officials had so far failed to resolve differences.

``She wants to get back to work, and we thought we had the summer to do it, but it hasn't worked out that way,'' Zaleski said.

In the notice of intent, Zaleski accuses Nichols and ``investigators and agents'' of the school system of negligence in their actions and failure to investigate completely the allegations against Hindmarsh.

The city's Child Protective Services agency in May ruled that a complaint of child neglect filed by two repertory students against Hindmarsh was unfounded.

City Attorney Philip R. Trapani and school spokesman George Raiss declined comment Thursday, calling the issue a personnel matter.

KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOLS by CNB