Trending
ONAWAY -- Onaway Area Community Schools and several school officials on Friday logged their response to a federal lawsuit accusing them of wrongfully exiling a parent from school property and accusing her of eavesdropping.
An attorney for the school district filed a response to the complaint of parent Erin Chaskey, who alleges that school officials caused her physical and emotional pain when they barred her from school property after a surveillance camera captured Chaskey recording a conversation between school officials without their knowledge.
The lawsuit demands $20 million in compensation for "egregious, retaliatory, and vindictive acts" by "spineless actors" Chaskey said intended to humiliate and silence her because she was outspoken about school policies.
In its response, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the school district responded to Chaskey's 39 pages of accusations, calling many of her statements legally and factually untrue.
The district will prove, it said in the response, that school officials were "careful, prudent, proper, and lawful" in their actions regarding Chaskey and that any injury or damage to Chaskey was caused by herself or someone else not under the control of the school district.
Others named in Chaskey's lawsuit, including Presque Isle County Sheriff Joe Brewbaker and Presque Isle County Prosecutor Ken Radzibon, have not yet filed a response to the suit.
Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.