Grand Prairie ISD wants its suspended superintendent鈥檚 lawsuit against the district to be moved to federal court.
In a filing last week , GPISD requested the case be removed from Dallas County District Court so it could be handled as a federal case because of Jorge Arredondo鈥檚 claims that he was the target of racial discrimination.
Arredondo sued the district and trustees last month after he was laid off just a couple of months in his job as superintendent, alleging he had been denied the chance to defend himself against claims he had violated district policy. In his lawsuit, he said the district violated his contractual and constitutional rights.
The district says because federal law underpins Arredondo鈥檚 argument, it belongs in federal court.
鈥淎lthough styled as a breach of contract claim and a claim that the District violated his due process rights under the Texas constitution, Dr. Arredondo鈥檚 most recent pleading ... now clarifies that these two causes of action are in fact federal in nature,鈥� the district鈥檚 filing reads.
Attorneys for the district argue Arredondo鈥檚 claims that he hasn't been given the chance to defend himself aren鈥檛 鈥渞ipe under state law because the Board of Trustees has not even yet voted to propose termination of his contract.鈥�
Arredondo was granted a temporary restraining order preventing the district from discussing his employment, defaming him or terminating his contract.
His attorney, Mary Nix, said they "haven't asserted any federal claims.
"I think that they were trying to avoid the TRO, which is void once they filed their notice of removal, and tried to avoid the injunction hearing" that had been scheduled for Friday, she said.
Nix said she expects to file a response to GPISD鈥檚 document this week to keep the matter in state court. It鈥檒l then be up to a federal judge to rule on GPISD鈥檚 argument.
Bill Zeeble is 四虎影院鈥檚 education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X .
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