Former Employee Alleges Discrimination by San Rafael City Schools District

A former psychologist at and schools filed wrongful termination charges based on gender discrimination against the .

Krista Alexander, the former bilingual school psychologist, claims she was fired in June 2010 due to requests for time off to spend with her newborn, according to court records.

Director of Special Education Amy Baer, who was Alexander’s supervisor, is accused along with the district of refusing Alexander’s requests to work from home as she had the previous school year and to take one day off a week to care for her son, according to court records.

Alexander claims Baer told her that she was overwhelmed, lazy and a complainer and her requests were outrageous, the court records said.

Alexander worked the 2009-2010 school year, but was told in June 2010 that she would not be hired on for 2010-2011 because of her work performance.

At the time she said she was entitled to nine weeks of leave under the California Family Rights Act, which allows up to 12 weeks of leave for most new parents.

She was allowed to take this leave later in September, after hiring her attorney to write a letter to the district following unsuccessful attempts by her union representative.

Court documents said Baer told Alexander that complaints from Harriet MacLean, principal at Davidson Middle School and Liz Block, principal at Laurel Dell Elementary School, had factored into the decision. Both parties denied making the comments.

Alexander received positive reviews from the district during her employment, which began in August 2008, and she was given multiple raises based on her performance, according to the court records.

In addition to seeking damages for compensation as well as emotional pain, Alexander’s attorney, David Weintraub, suggested that she should be reinstated to a new position and steps should be taken to ensure similar situations don’t come up in the future.

“We want justice done in her case,” Weintraub said.

The San Rafael City Schools District declined to comment on the case, only saying that the next step in the process would depend on what Alexander wanted to do.

Hearings for the case will begin mid-August.

“I would like the Board to be more accountable to how they treat their employees,” Alexander said.

Editor's note: In an earlier version of this story, it stated that Krista Alexander was fired in June 2009.