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Tuesday, February 08, 2000 Page: 8B
WILKES-BARRE – A woman who says a Dallas School District principal sexually
harassed her will pursue her case in Luzerne County Court, following the
case’s dismissal in federal court.
Attorney A. Martin Herring of Philadelphia, representing Tammy Dickson of
Trucksville, Kingston Township, filed papers with the county prothonotary on
Friday to transfer the sexual harassment lawsuit against Dallas Elementary
School Principal Sam Barbose.
U.S. Middle District Court Chief Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie recently ruled
Dickson’s claim concerned individual liability under the state’s employment
discrimination law, “an issue that does not arise under federal law.”
Dickson accused Barbose in 1996 of sexually harassing her when she worked
as a long-term substitute fourth-grade teacher at Westmoreland Elementary
School. She was seeking more than $300,000 in damages in the lawsuit in which
she said Barbose, the school’s principal at the time, made unwelcome sexual
comments, touched her without permission and created a hostile work
environment during the 1995-96 school year.
Dickson said she was denied a teaching position and lost her job after she
reported the alleged harassment.
Barbose, of Kingston Township, was principal of Westmoreland Elementary
School. School officials transferred him to Dallas Elementary and suspended
him for 60 days without pay after determining in May 1996 he was in violation
of school policy.