Shameless teacher tries to get revenge on school that fired her for calling out sick to go to concert
The brazen Ohio teacher who reportedly called out sick to go to a Nashville concert is fighting back against the school that fired her.
Eileen Washburn, a former English teacher at Lakota West High School in Liberty Township, has filed a lawsuit against the Lakota Local School District.
In the document, she argued she was wrongfully terminated after the school board accused her of 'falsified sick leave' from February 8 to February 9 to go see a musical performance with her teenage son.
The board placed Washburn on unpaid leave in April, claiming she had bragged about going to the concert to her coworkers and failed to provide details about why she needed sick leave.
But in October, the English teacher was officially fired from the high school, as outlined in the lawsuit.
Washburn asserted that her actions were not fireable offences and other teachers were 'disciplined less harshly or not disciplined at all for using sick pay when they were not sick,' according to the document.
Eileen Washburn, an English teacher at Lakota West High School, has filed a lawsuit against the school that fired her for calling out sick to go to a concert
Washburn was officially fired from Lakota West High School in Liberty Township in October. She is now fighting to get her job back
'Ms. Washburn's conduct was not hostile to the school community and it could not have harmed the school community or students, as required to justify termination,' the document states.
She also claimed that she did have a legitimate reason to call off sick those two days and gave the school a doctor's note explaining why she had to miss work.
Washburn said she was 'reluctant' to respond to requests for additional information about her medical condition because it was a 'personal matter.'
During the first school board meeting to discuss Washburn's 'fraudulent' sick leave, she alleged that the Executive Director of Human Resources Rob Kramer called her a 'liar.'
In the lawsuit, Washburn demanded that she be reinstated to her teaching position. She also expects 'back pay and all contractual benefits and full restoration of seniority in all respects.'
The school district responded to Washburn's claims in a counterfiling, stating that 'the record speaks for itself.'
It is unclear who was performing at the concert that cost Washburn her job.
She has been an Ohio educator for about two decades and has no other blemishes on her record, according to the lawsuit.
Washburn allegedly called out sick in February to go to a Nashville concert with her teenage son
The Lakota Local School District decided to place Washburn on unpaid leave in April
Washburn taught ESL at the high school and still holds a position on the Loveland Board of Education.
According to her profile page on the Loveland City School District's website, Washburn is married with kids, and has lived in the city of Loveland since 2005.
She previously taught at Princeton High School before she moved on to teach English at Lakota West High School in 2015.
