Dunbar High School principal files lawsuit against Fayette superintendent, others

The principal of Lexington’s Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, who has been on administrative leave for four months, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Fayette County Superintendent Demetrus Liggins, the board of education, high school director James McMillin and district spokesperson Lisa Deffendall.

Marlon Ball’s attorney, Dale Golden, told the Herald-Leader that during his administrative leave, Ball has never been told by the district what he was alleged to have done wrong and “they never asked him a single question.”

“We’ve decided that we are going to fight,” Golden said of the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Fayette Circuit Court.

When contacted Tuesday, Deffendall said the district can’t comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit claims Deffendall’s statements to the media following former Dunbar athletic director Jason Howell’s death created “a causal link to a tragic situation and unlawful conduct on the part of Mr. Ball,” Golden said.

“That made him a pariah in the public view,” Golden said.

Ball’s administrative leave was announced in a district statement mourning Howell.

The cause of Howell’s death was being investigated as a suicide, Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn told the Herald-Leader at the time.

“Our FCPS community is grieving Mr. Howell’s passing along with the staff, students, and families at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. When one of our schools is hurting, the impact is felt districtwide,” Deffendall said in a November statement about Ball being placed on administrative leave.

“We are aware of the concerns raised by members of the Dunbar staff,” the statement continued. “Reports of this nature are taken seriously and will be fully investigated. Per our normal human resources procedures, Dunbar Principal Marlon Ball has been placed on administrative leave. As with any personnel matter, we are unable to comment further.”

The lawsuit also said after Ball was hired, McMillin began a campaign of harassment and discrimination against Ball based on his race. Ball made a complaint of the racial discrimination to Liggins, who said that a third-party must be present whenever McMillin and Ball were together as well as during any email and text communications, the lawsuit said.

“The suicide was used by the Defendants as an opportunity to further advance the campaign of harassment/discrimination against Mr. Ball,” the lawsuit alleged.

“Each of the Defendants individually and acting in concert, retaliated against Mr. Ball for his report/grievance/complaint of racial discrimination filed on September 6th with the Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion that operates within the Fayette County School Board,” the lawsuit said.

Selection process

Ball was recruited to interview for the Lexington Traditional Magnet School principal job, which took place on May 16, 2022, the lawsuit said.

On May 20, Ball was told he had been selected for the job, but McMillin said he needed to interview a minority candidate and a female candidate for the Dunbar principal vacancy to meet Human Resources requirements, the lawsuit claims.

Ball was told once he was completed an interview for the Dunbar job, he could take the job at LTMS, the lawsuit said.

Students, staff and parents at Dunbar completed a survey in May 2022 and a “principal profile” was created from the answers. Ball fit the profile with the exception of having prior experience as a lead principal, but the former Dunbar principal didn’t support Ball and took measures to dissuade others, the lawsuit alleged.

The candidate who received the most votes to become the next Dunbar principal was from Jessamine County, but that individual pulled out of the interview process after he was interviewed. That left Ball and one other female applicant who was supported by the former Dunbar principal, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said McMillin attempted to introduce another applicant who is now the principal of Lafayette High School.

“Despite this attempt to manipulate the votes and support the other candidates, Ball was chosen as the principal of Dunbar High School” by the school council on June 2, the lawsuit said.

Golden said 91% of the faculty at Dunbar was white, but less than half of the students are white.

McMillin was unhappy with Ball being selected as principal of Dunbar High School and immediately accused him of a Family Educational Rights and Privacy Rights violation when responding to experience-based questions about curriculum and assessments, according to the lawsuit.

Ball performed his duties as principal of Dunbar High School in a professional and competent manner, but McMillin began a campaign of harassment and discrimination against Ball based on his race, the lawsuit alleged. The lawsuit also claims Ball was not paid enough based on his level of experience.

‘Four months is insulting’

The lawsuit said Deffendall purposely provided statements that were defamatory to Ball.

Teacher Sharessa Bentley-Crovo, who gave a statement in a previous Herald-Leader story, violated school board policy by providing derogatory statements to the media designed to further perpetrate the harassment and discrimination against Ball, the lawsuit said, citing the quote “after losing a beloved colleague we can’t stay quiet.”

“The statements accused Mr. Ball of bullying and harassment of staff and indicated that investigations are underway and that staff and parent representatives are offering to help provide any valuable information,” the lawsuit said.

Golden said the district has never publicly said whether Bentley-Crovo was disciplined for making the statements.

“It is now apparent that the Defendants will have no other choice, but to manufacture a charge against Mr. Ball,” the lawsuit said. “Due to the fact that four months have expired without a good faith effort to conduct and conclude an investigation, the Defendants are now in a position to where they will have to make some adverse finding against Mr. Ball to justify the unconscionable delay.”

Ball was confronted in several public places as a result of the community believing he was the cause of someone else’s suicide, the lawsuit said.

Golden said that Ball has been publicly harassed, including an incident at a grocery store caught on video in which a fellow shopper silently used a hand gesture to taunt Ball. Lexington police investigated, Golden said.

The lawsuit is asking for damages.

Golden said after four months, he told the school district if they didn’t “conclude and clear his (Ball’s) name by the end of last week that I was going to file a suit.”

He said he received an email last Friday from an assistant in the human resources office saying they wanted to schedule a personnel meeting with Ball and gave a date of next month.

He said the email didn’t say they wanted to hear his side of the story.

The meeting was regarding Ball’s investigation and his employment, Golden said.

“Four months is insulting,” Golden said. He said Ball had remained quiet for four months “while the public media completely destroys their professional reputation.”

Golden said he had hoped that the school district would say why Ball was on leave and what they had done to investigate him.

He was expecting they would ask Ball what happened.

“We weren’t shown that much respect,” Golden said.

He said for an investigation that was supposed to last 20 days to last four months was “unacceptable.”

Golden said the length of the investigation has impeded Ball from returning to work in Fayette County or elsewhere.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

This story was originally published February 21, 2023 at 10:48 AM.