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School Board to pay $18,000 in bias suit

The payment settles a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a teacher at Deltona Elementary School in 2005.

By TOM MARSHALL
Published August 22, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - The Hernando County School Board has agreed to an $18,000 settlement in a lawsuit by a teacher who claimed sexual harassment.

But board attorney J. Paul Carland said the agreement should not be interpreted as an admission of guilt by the board. The cost will be borne by the district's risk management program, he said.

"It was the settlement recommended by our litigation counsel and insurance company," he said. "We're not admitting that anything happened."

Linda Goebel was a 25-year-old prekindergarten teacher at Spring Hill's Deltona Elementary School in January 2005 when she filed a lawsuit against the district, saying it failed to discipline a colleague who made repeated unwanted advances and did not protect her from retaliation for speaking out.

Goebel, who has since married and goes by the name Linda Schimenti, said that colleague, 50-year-old teacher Douglas Latta, made frequent lewd remarks and put his arm around her.

She filed a formal complaint with the district in 2004, and records show that another employee filed a separate complaint in 2003.

The district put Latta on a paid suspension for 22 days in May 2004, with one year of probation and a required sexual harassment course. That probation was later extended for a year after a third employee accused him of harassment in fall 2004.

Schimenti, whose contract was not renewed to teach at Deltona, claimed in her lawsuit that she had been retaliated against for filing a complaint against Latta.

She was hired that fall to teach kindergarten at J.D. Floyd Elementary School in Spring Hill, where she remains this year.

Latta resigned from his teaching position in May, officials said.

The School Board voted unanimously Aug. 15 to accept the settlement agreement.

Tom Marshall can be reached at tmarshall@sptimes.com or 352 848-1431.

[Last modified August 21, 2006, 22:36:20]