THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 14, 1996 TAG: 9609140235
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 48 lines
A former school custodian who filed a federal lawsuit last year alleging that a male supervisor had sexually harassed her reached a settlement this week with the man and the school system.
The terms of the settlement, signed Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Henry C. Morgan Jr., were ordered sealed from the public.
Joyce Carter, a custodian at the school district's Child Nutrition Services facility on Bellmore Avenue from October 1990 to June 1993, claimed in her lawsuit that a supervisor, Sherman Kittrell, had made unwanted sexual advances during that time, offering her money and other favors.
Carter filed her suit last October against Kittrell and the School Board and was seeking $300,000 in punitive and $300,000 in compensatory damages.
Kittrell, who earns $18,466 in his position as head custodian at the facility, denied Carter's accusations. In court papers, Kittrell claimed that Carter filed a sexual harassment complaint after she received reprimands and a poor job evaluation.
An investigation by school officials concluded that there was insufficient evidence against Kittrell.
Attorneys for Carter and the School Board said they could not disclose whether Carter received cash as part of the settlement. Carter was offered a job by the school system, her attorney said.
The civil case was settled on the day after it had been scheduled for a jury trial.
``I think it's safe to say she wouldn't be settling if she wasn't satisfied,'' her Norfolk attorney, Reid H. Ervin, said Friday.
Attorney William E. Rachels Jr. of the law firm Willcox & Savage in Norfolk, retained by the school system to represent Kittrell, said ``all matters'' had been resolved satisfactorily. Rachels said that ``so far as I know,'' Kittrell will continue to work as head custodian of the nutrition facility, which prepares meals for the city's schoolchildren.
School officials said Friday that Kittrell remained on the job.
In August 1993, Carter filed a sexual harassment complaint against Kittrell with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In May 1995, EEOC officials ruled that ``reasonable cause'' supported her claim that she ``was subjected to sexual harassment, disciplined and transferred after rejecting the sexual advances'' of Kittrell.
Attorneys for the School Board rejected offers by the EEOC to help resolve the case.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOLS SEXUAL HARASSMENT SETTLEMENT by CNB