War on Women Administrators Eeoc Documentation

By Dr. Roselinda Johnson

This book is dedicated to all the Potential Female Administrators from Superintendent in Education to President of the United States of America. After not being hired for the Position of Superintendent in Arkansas Schools, I decided to use my degree and knowledge to change the hiring policies which were mainly in the area of application question that asked for sex, age, and disability status. None of these victories helped me, but it helped other over-forty females or disabled people obtain jobs. The process of using EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) with charges of discrimination against the Arkansas School Districts took from 1993 to 2012. The process changed all the application in Arkansas School Districts. One of the main reasons given as to why I had not been hired or interviewed as a Superintendent was that I had not been a Superintendent before. Since I had never been hired as a Superintendent, I had nothing to lose. Thus, I turned my attention to writing this book which will help other females know how to fight discrimination when they apply to be in upper administration.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496908445

Dr. Roselinda Johnson

Dr. Johnson wrote and drew all the poems dealing with childhood fears when she was with her two grandchildren, Austin and Brooke Short, talking about what made them afraid. She read the poems to them as they painted a picture to go with each poem. This made their issues go away while they laughed at the drawings which they created together.

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© 2014 Dr. Roselinda Johnson, Ed.D. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  05/07/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-0845-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-0844-5 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Thanks to my friend, Jo-Ann Coleman, for her

encouragement to write this book.

CONTENTS

In Spite of Everything

Equality out of Equity

History of Rural Sex Discrimination in Arkansas Schools

Qualities for a Superintendent

Sample of Amended Complaint Letter

Sample of Amendment to Amended Complaint Letter to Add Parties

Sample of Letter to U.S. EEOC

Educating Arkansas School Boards with Attorneys

Sample of Proposed Complaint Letter

Sample Little Rock EEOC Letter

Letter to Senate and House Education Committees

Letter to Arkansas Department of Education

Letter to Attorney

Letter to U.S. Department of Justice

Sample Case Summaries of Arkansas EEOC Charges

WAR ON WOMEN

Topics in Order of Presentation

In Spite of Everything—Brief Biographical Sketch of Author

Dedication to All the Potential Female Administrators from Superintendent to President of the U.S.A.

Equality out of Equity: Are Females today Equal under the U.S. Constitution? History of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment), Can a Female be elected President?

History of Rural Sex Discrimination in Arkansas Schools Qualities for a Superintendent

Sample of Amended Complaint Letter, United States District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas, Privacy Act

Sample of Amendment to Amended Complaint Letter to Add Parties, ADA (American Disability Act) Violations

Sample of Letter to U.S. EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), ADA Accommodations V. Stressors

Educating Arkansas School Boards with Attorneys

Sample of Proposed Complaint Letter, United States District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas Sample Little Rock EEOC Letter, New 1994 Sex, Age, Disability Discrimination, and Retaliation Charges

Letter to Senate and House Education Committees, Arkansas State Capitol, Codification of Female Discrimination in Hiring or Promotion

Letter to Arkansas Department of Education, Administrative Gender Equity Guideline Improvement Plan Request

Letter to Attorney

Letter to U.S. Department of Justice, ADA Complaint

Sample Case Summaries of Arkansas EEOC Charges

Dedicated to All the Potential Female Administrators

from Superintendent to President of the U.S.A.

IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING

Brief Biographical Sketch of Author

IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING

This book is written after many years of trying to become a Female Administrator in Education. My motto in life has consisted to two words, Quand Meme. The literal meaning is In Spite of Everything. Every time I failed to be hired, I tried to succeed in spite of all the circumstances. Failure means nothing at all if success comes eventually. Discouragement need not mean failure. If a person keeps on and follows the course, she will succeed.

When we study the records of the past, the fundamental is impressed upon us that nothing great and truly worthwhile has ever been accomplished without many heartbreaking discouragement and temporary failure. To every person, no matter what their calling, defeat is certain to come sometime or other. Indeed, no one is truly successful until she has met failure and tried again and again.

In 1948, at the age of eight, I met with the greatest crisis of my life: after a swim in the Russellville, Arkansas pool, I caught the Polio virus. People around me in the hospital were dying, paralyzed, or put into iron lungs to breath. I was put in isolation for a month. I endured the treatments known at the time by being wrapped in cold sheets and then wrapped in a blanket so my muscles would work. I came out of the hospital and continued to walk and go to school for half a day. Forty years later, I was awarded a Doctorate in Education Administration from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. During this same time I worked for twenty years in the field of Education and fifteen years in counseling. In 1957, at the age of seventeen, I was critically injured in a car wreck where I was thrown through the glass of a Volkswagen car going 50 mph and came out with damaged ankles and knees. When I recovered, my parents were transferred to England. I then had to learn French and attend the Ecole Hoteliere in Lausanne, Switzerland where I was awarded a degree in Hotel Management which I used for three years at hotels in England, New Mexico, and in Texas. The decision to go to Lausanne, Switzerland saved my life because all the other students who had decided to attend a school in Germany were killed in a plane crash coming home for Christmas.

I married my childhood sweetheart and soul mate of ten years and raised two children in Corpus Christi, Texas for thirteen years while I went to night school, sold real estate, and wrote for Texas Monthly. After a divorce, I returned to my parents in Russellville, Arkansas where I felt like a complete failure. I started applying for jobs in education. The salary was so low that I knew that I had to obtain higher degrees to match the thirteen years I had already spent in the field of education in order to make a living for my family. Since the Superintendents made more money than teachers, I decided to go into Administration and complete a Doctorate in Education at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

I was discouraged from finishing my Doctorate because I was a disabled female. My grades were good, I had two Masters, and my Graduate Record Exam was high; but I was a disabled female in Arkansas. I presented my case to First Lady Hillary Clinton while her husband, Bill Clinton, was the Governor of Arkansas. I met Hillary Clinton at an Educational Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. She assigned one of her staff members to intervene on my behalf for the next seven years. In Spite of Everything I graduated with a Doctorate in Educational Administration, but was told I would never be an Administrator in Arkansas. They were right. After graduation, when I tried to find a job as Superintendent in the state of Arkansas, I had enormous difficulties being hired or even interviewed. However, I was hired in several starting entry jobs as Special Education Teacher, Counselor, and Gifted and Talented Teacher, which were positions that were mainly for females. I discovered that Arkansas Superintendents were usually High School Principals who had previously been Coaches for the district. After discovering how the educational system worked, I decided to use my degree and knowledge to change the hiring policies which were mainly in the area of application questions that asked for sex, age, and disability status. None of these victories helped me, but it helped other over-forty females or disabled people obtain jobs. The process of using EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) with charges of discrimination against the Arkansas School Districts took from 1993 to 2012. The process changed all the applications in Arkansas School Districts. I also helped change the years it took to vest in retirement from ten years to five years for all teachers so it would be in alignment with the time it took for state employees to be vested in their retirement. I worked with the Arkansas State Board of Education to accomplish this. Again, In Spite of Everything, I felt I had achieved a degree of success. I can say this because I relate to Frank Graham’s book, The New York Yankees, when he discovered Babe Ruth and said: He looked better striking out than he did hitting home runs.

During the nineteen years that I had tried to be hired as a Superintendent, I kept in mind the ten long years Cyrus Field struggled to bring the continents into closer communication with the first Atlantic Cable. In spite of seven disastrous failures he found success. Also, for many years Edison tried to solve the problem of incandescent electric lighting. Year after year he experimented. He tested some 4 or 5 thousand different materials, from silk fiber to horse hairs. After thousands of failure, Edison brought new light into the world—In Spite of Everything. While I was sending out resume after resume, I started my own business, R.B. Lyn Johnson, PA (Professional Association). I earned a Licensed Professional Counselor certificate, and I helped counsel veterans for six years who were attending five different colleges in Arkansas under the Chapter 13 for the GI Bill. I also won a contract as an EAP (Employee Assistance Program) counselor helping employees from several nuclear sites across the United States receive help for mental health issues. I was CEO and President of my own organization as a Licensed Profession Counselor. I also earned a certificate from the National Board of Certified Counselors.

Because I had filed so many EEOC charges against most of the 300 Arkansas School Districts during that time frame, I was blackballed and put on a Do Not Hire List. Since I had never been hired as a Superintendent, I had nothing to lose. I thought that one of the main reasons given as to why I had not been hired as a Superintendent was that I had not been a Superintendent before, I reasoned that I could now put down that I had been President and CEO of my own business for fifteen years. I also was given a lifelong certificate for all my certified positions in education which included administration. I found out later, that this would not help attain my primary goal. My last application was with School District 72 in 2011. They had hired a firm to review all the applicants. They chose three: two males and one female. The two males dropped out before they were interviewed, and the one female was not hired. The position was given to a male who had been the interim Superintendent. I decided that this would be my last application for this position. Thus, I turned my attention to writing my book.

I was motivated to write by other examples of people who did achieve their dreams when they had not been in a specific profession before included the following: Pasteur, who gave more knowledge for the preservation of health than any other man, was not a physician. Whitney, the man who invented the cotton gin, was a school teacher. John Rockefeller was a clerk in a produce house. Andrew Carnegie was a bobbin boy. Thomas Edison was a newsboy. Henry Ford was an electrical mechanic. Benjamin Franklin was a printer’s apprentice. Morse of the telegraphic fame was a portrait painter. Bell, the inventor of the telephone, was a teacher of sound. Eastman, the Kodak king, was a bank clerk. I am positive that if given the chance I would have made a good Superintendent of a school district since I had been at all levels in education for twenty years and had all the required certificates—In Spite of Everything.

I will not be afraid to lose today. Today is not going to make or break us. We can’t bat .300 every day. Babe Ruth hit an unapproached total of 851 home runs. But another unapproached world’s record of his is carefully buried in the records, never to be mentioned: striking out more times than any other player in history. He failed 1,330 times! I have failed only 300 times to be hired as a Superintendent. Thus, I will keep on writing—In Spite of Everything!

Theodore Roosevelt said: It is not the critic who counts; not the person who points out how the strong person stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena: whose face is marred by dust, sweat, and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error and short-coming; who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, spends themselves in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails at least fails daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. I am not alone in never giving up—In Spite of Everything.

Another female that helped motivate me was one of the greatest actresses of all time, the French woman, Sarah Bernhardt. She became famous throughout the entire civilized world. She was the leading lady of the stage. In 1915, at the age of 70, she met the greatest crisis of her life—an accident forced the amputation of a leg. Yet, In Spite of Everything, she continued on the stage with an artificial leg. She appeared before soldiers’ camps in Europe and a tour of America, thrilling audiences everywhere. I am now 74, have both my legs, and her same determination to succeed by writing this book—War on Women Administrators. Perhaps I will never be a Superintendent, but the information in this book will help other women achieve their goals whether it happens to be a Superintendent or President of the United States.

Hard work and faith can overcome every defeat. Harriet Beecher Stowe said, When everything goes against you, and it seems you cannot hold out a minute longer, never give up. That is just the place and the time that the tide will turn. My book is based on the research I have kept since 1992. I have finished the research, and I am transferring all my notes onto one computer disc so it can be published on the internet. The information contained in my future book will encourage everyone to succeed and win the War on Women Administrators—In Spite of Everything.

EQUALITY OUT OF EQUITY

Are Females today Equal under the U.S. Constitution?

(Can a Female be elected President?)

EQUALITY OUT OF EQUITY

Are Females today Equal under the U.S. Constitution?

(Can a Female be elected President?)

Equity is the right for a female to run for administrative office while equality means that 50% of the females who run for office will be elected to administrative positions. This dilemma results in an undeclared war against women. The examples of this occurrence are documented and numerous.

First, I will start with the history of the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment). The lack of equality in politics, the workplace at the local state level in education in Arkansas, where no woman has been elected as Governor, and only a few women have filled the top positions of Superintendent of Schools is where I will start.

This struggle is not about feminism of old, but the lack of equality as it stands now. This equality may not come about for decades in the United States, but there is a chance it will eventually come to pass in the future as more and more educated and smart women emerge to claim their equal status and their equal right to win the undeclared war against them.

HISTORY OF THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT

The ERA states: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

According to (www.equalrightsamendment.org), a project of the