An Evergreen Public Schools educator has filed a lawsuit against the district.
Elizabeth Uelmen, a teacher at Shahala Middle School, claims sexual harassment, gender discrimination, unlawful retaliatory adverse employment action, retaliatory adverse employment action for opposing an unfair practice and negligent and/or intentional infliction of emotional distress. She is claiming damages of not less than $4 million.
Uelmen, who was an associate principal at Cascade Middle School for seven years, claims that she suffered retaliation after reporting inappropriate behavior by another associate principal at Cascade, Elten Paul “Tim” Dotson.
According to the complaint for damages, Uelmen reported to higher-level administrators that Dotson was engaged in sexual relationships with two women subordinates at the school. Although Uelmen had received positive employee reviews until then, after she reported Dotson’s behavior to the district office she began receiving negative reviews.
Eventually, Uelmen was transferred to Frontier Middle School to continue as an associate principal, but she continued to receive negative employee reviews. In September, Uelmen says, she was demoted and sent to Shahala Middle School as a classroom teacher, resulting in a $33,000 annual pay cut. As an associate principal at Frontier, Uelmen was paid $102,859 for the 2012-13 school year.
