Court Documents put Petrilli on the record

This from the Herald-Leader:

Ex-principal describes resistance by parents

Alleges in court filings that Booker T. Washington

families made racist remarks

Peggy Petrilli claims that Booker T. Washington's parents wanted a black principal.

• Exhibit: Letter from Fayette school board attorney to Petrilli's attorney
• Exhibit: Petrilli's answers to the Fayette school board attorneys
• Fayette school board attorneys' motion to get more answers from Peggy Petrilli

Former Booker T. Washington Academy principal Peggy Petrilli says she encountered resistance from parents at the predominantly black elementary school the first time she met them in 2005.

After Petrilli, who is white, was introduced to a group of parents, Superintendent Stu Silberman was peppered with questions about why parents weren't allowed to have input in her hiring.

The parents wanted a black principal, Petrilli claims in documents filed in a reverse discrimination lawsuit against Silberman and the Fayette school board...

...Petrilli is demanding $11 million from the school board: $3 million for mental anguish and humiliation; $500,000 for lost wages; $1 million for Petrilli's permanent impairment to earn money; $1 million for "actual, consequential, incidental and foreseeable damages"; $500,000 for attorney's fees; and $5 million in punitive damages...

...A new principal, Wendy Brown, was hired in April. She is black...

...Petrilli says, Silberman ordered her to either resign or retire. He refused to allow her to meet with parents, she says.

Silberman "told me that he knew the complaints from the BTWA parents were not true," Petrilli said. "He told me that the instructional program was outstanding, but that this was all about perception."

A school board attorney declined to comment Tuesday. Silberman has been instructed by attorneys not to comment on the case, a district spokeswoman said.

A key question in the lawsuit is whether Petrilli voluntarily resigned...

...Petrilli's lawsuit contends the school board broke the law and skipped [required due process] steps so it could replace her with a black principal...