Ex-food service director for Sylvania schools appeals firing
3/28/2013The former director of food service for Sylvania City Schools has appealed her termination in Lucas County Common Pleas court.
In a complaint filed Wednesday, Savita Jindal of Sylvania asked the court to reinstate her to her former job with back pay and interest, to have the administrative charges brought against her and the record of the hearing expunged, and to have the school district pay her attorney fees.
Mrs. Jindal, who was hired in 2006, was fired by the school board Feb. 25 after the board said she misreported the number of free and reduced lunches served to students last school year.
In the complaint, she alleges the school board violated state law and the due process clauses of the Ohio and U.S. constitutions in firing her. She also claims the board “failed to give proper deference” to the outcome of a three-day hearing held before a referee appointed by the Ohio Department of Education in August, in which the referee recommended that Mrs. Jindal not be fired.
In a separate complaint filed this month in common pleas court, Mrs. Jindal accused the school district, Superintendent Brad Rieger, and Human Resources Director Jane Spurgeon of defamation in the matter.