Former chief family officer sues Lorain Schools in state Supreme Court

Lorain Schools' former chief family officer has filed a lawsuit against the interim CEO, school board and Academic Distress Commission. Arliss Prass filed a complaint in the Ohio Supreme Court on Feb. 12. In it, she states interim CEO Greg Ring did not honor a contract reached under the previous CEO and is seeking a court order requiring the district pay her severance pay of $59,250 and continue her health insurance for the severance period. Prass' contract language included a clause that it expired if a new CEO was brought into the district or if the Academic Distress Commission was dissolved. Her original contract included a 90-day severance pay, with benefits, which was upped to 120 days effective Jan. 1, 2019. Greg Ring took over for former CEO David Hardy Jr. officially Jan. 3, 2020. On Jan. 31, he notified Prass her employment was terminated that day and she would be paid through the end of February if she accepted the change to her contract by Feb. 3. According to exhibits attached to the lawsuit, she did not agree to those terms, and on Feb. 4 was notified by the CEO that she would receive no more than five days of compensation for unused vacation time. Her lawsuit states under her contract the district is obligated to pay the $59,250 in severance pay, and for 32.47 of unused, accrued vacation days totaling $16,032. Included in Prass' filing are the letters she received from Ring regarding her employment. One dated Jan. 30 states regarding her severance pay, "The law director for the city of Lorain has given the school board an opinion that a 'golden parachute' such as yours is most likely against public policy and therefore not enforceable because you would be paid for not working." Also included in her filing is her 2019-20 review quarterly growth assessment, completed by Hardy. In it, he marks her as exemplary in all categories. Another review was set to be completed in May. Under House Bill 70, the law that set the guidelines for the state takeovers in Lorain, Youngstown and East Cleveland, the district CEO is afforded complete managerial, operational and instructional control. Under that, he can "limit, suspend or alter any contract with an administrator outside of cutting salaries or base hours that are not part of a uniform reduction. The CEO is able to make similar changes to collective bargaining agreements. Ring, Academic Distress Commission chairman Randall Sampson and School Board President Mark Ballard were mailed summons and copies of the complaint Feb. 14. Ring did not return a request for comment Tuesday evening. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com. Follow her on Twitter @CWoytach.