David Daniel
Former Los Alamos High School drama instructor David Daniel has filed a lawsuit against Los Alamos Public Schools Superintendent Kurt Steinhaus, former Los Alamos High School Principal Brad Parker, and the school district alleging sexual orientation discrimination.
Filed July 25 in First Judicial District Court, the suit states that Daniel filed a discrimination charge with the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions Human Rights Bureau in January and that he received a non-determination letter from the Bureau in April, which exhausted his administrative remedies.
The suit alleges that when Daniel was hired, he told Parker he was gay and very involved with Proposition 8 and the LGBT community because he felt that some parents might object to his involvement issues. It claims that from the outset of his employment, he was “beset with inappropriate and offensive comments”. It accuses Parker of telling Daniel he would be “perfect for the kids that don’t fit in anywhere,” and on another occasion, “You’ve changed my opinion of your people”.
Daniel says he was told by school leadership that there was no curriculum to follow “as long as the children stayed happy” and that “curriculum did not matter in an elective course”.
“(Daniel) drew from his extensive experience in the theater to design and implement a curriculum. Over the course of a single year, (Daniel) tripled enrollment in the drama program, increased participation in the Olions, received a Community Assets In Action award, tripled attendance at Olions performances and doubled their profits, sent students to national and state competitions.
The suit alleges that following a school-wide assembly on mental health issues facing the community that was linked to the XQ Super Schools Project, a vice principal privately shared with Daniel the results of a survey given to teachers about their response to the assembly.
“One of the surveys referred to (Daniel) as a ‘naïve, blue-shoed yahoo’ who ‘had no business standing in front of our kids”, the suit states.
The suit describes issues that arose at LAHS concerning students being given extra credit by a teacher if they did not use their two permitted bathroom breaks per semester. It claims that when school leadership “extinguished” the policy, the teacher had her students write a paper on why it should be reinstated, which Daniel felt was emotional abuse. Daniel claims Parker was disinterested in taking action so he posted the assignment to his social media account at which he claims he was told by administration to remove the post and reprimanded for insubordination.
The suit alleges Daniel faced discrimination from the staff that ran Duane Smith Auditorium, including manager Ross Mason “who had conservative political leanings” and that Daniel was told to “butch up” when he was to be around Mason. It claims Mason would change technical aspects of the theater without permission, refused meetings and communications and made several decisions in his execution of his job functions that Daniel felt “endangered students physically”.
“The technical director for the Olions was Chas Shay who was assaulted by Mason during a fire drill during which Mason called Shay and (Daniel) ‘a (expletive) thief and the faggot director’ who ‘better stay the (expletive) away from his theater”, the suit states. “A Los Alamos Police officer took a report and was told to give the report to Mr. Parker for editing, but Mr. Parker never filed the report, which was discovered during the course of a newspaper investigation into (Daniel’s) termination.
The suit claims Daniel made formal complaints to his immediate supervisor, Mason’s supervisor and Steinhaus regarding Mason’s behavior, “expressing concern for his own safety and the safety of his students” but that no action was taken regarding “Mason’s assault and use of hate speech on school grounds”.
The suit accuses LAPS and Parker of engaging in sexual orientation discrimination and violating Daniel’s right to be free from discrimination in the workplace under the New Mexico state statute in unlawful discriminatory practice and permitting a homophobic environment to exist. It accuses Parker and Steinhaus of terminating Daniel from his job “with intent to injure him” and claims Steinhaus’ and Parker’s alleged actions were “intentional and outside the course and scope of employment duties”.
Daniel is asking for compensatory damages, punitive damages and court costs. His attorney is H. Jesse Jacobus, III, of Albuquerque. He has filed a demand for a six-person jury trial.
Superintendent Steinhaus said Tuesday that he was unaware of the suit and had no comment to make.
