Suit: 3 school districts blocked teacher due to blindness

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

A music teacher has filed a federal lawsuit against three school districts in southwest Ohio, alleging he was prevented from teaching there because he’s blind.

The Lakota Local School District, Fairfield City School District and Ross Local School District failed to accommodate Kyle Conley under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Robert Klinger, Conley’s attorney, told The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Conley lost wages, benefits and other compensation as a result, and suffered emotional distress, Klinger said. Conley’s lawsuit seeks back pay, other attorney fees and costs and a jury trial. Conley was a substitute teacher at the Butler County school districts.

Roger Martin, the assistant superintendent for Fairfield, wrote a letter to the superintendent of the Warren County Educational Services Center and Southwest Ohio Council of Governments in September 2014, stating they felt Conley couldn’t keep students safe in a possible emergency, according to the lawsuit.