Fired Warren school employee files suit, seeks reinstatement

Staff report

WARREN

A former family liaison at the Warren City Schools’ Lincoln K-8 building has filed a lawsuit in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court seeking her job back.

Honey D. Woodgett Price, 41, of Perkinswood Boulevard, filed the suit Tuesday, naming each member of the Warren Board of Education and the district’s superintendent and treasurer as defendants.

The board of education fired Price Jan. 31 after her arrest Jan. 16 for purportedly brandishing a weapon in the parking lot of the Giant Eagle on Elm Road, according to a school-board document contained in the lawsuit.

Police responded to the store and arrested Price while she was driving her car and found a loaded pistol in her purse, the document said.

The school district investigated the matter and held fact-finding hearings, concluding that Price should be terminated “given the severity of Ms. Price’s conduct,” the document said.

The lawsuit says the school district failed to “conduct a full hearing, complete with transcript” prior to firing her and didn’t have just cause for the termination. The hearing is required under Ohio law and the U.S. Constitution, the suit said.

The document says the school district gave Price a draft copy of the proposed termination resolution setting forth the specifics of the allegation. At a hearing before the superintendent, Michael Notar, Price received an opportunity to address any and all of the allegations against her, the document said.

Price is charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a fourth-degree felony, in Warren Municipal Court, according to court records. An innocent plea was entered for her Jan. 17. The case is pending.

Notar said Tuesday the school district followed standard procedure regarding lawsuits by contacting its insurance company, which will appoint legal counsel to “take it from there.”