May 11, 2012 2 min read

An attorney for Laurel Highlands School District filed paperwork contending that the board did not act with race, gender or age bias when they passed up a Uniontown woman for the job as district superintendent.

Joyce Royster, 63, sued earlier this year, claiming the board hired a white man in his 40s, Jesse T. Wallace III, as superintendent. In doing so, Royster contended she was discriminated against because she is a black woman who is older than Wallace.

Attorney John W. Smart, however, contended Royster did not show any evidence that she was discriminated against for any of those reasons. Smart asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit outright.

The suit, Smart wrote, did not list Royster’s qualifications “with specificity.”

Additionally, Royster did not show that she was not hired because of her race.

“Plaintiff does not even allege that defendant acted with knowledge of plaintiff’s race, let alone, that the district failed to interview or hire her on account of her race,” Smart wrote.

Her allegations of gender discrimination “are even less revealing than her race discrimination claims,” Smart contended.

“In her complaint, plaintiff merely alleged that she is a female who was not interviewed or hired for a position she was qualified for,” he wrote.

As to the age claim, Royster’s “own allegations reveal the true reason for why she was not interviewed. That is, defendant was not accepting outside applications. Plaintiff claims this was a false contention on the part of the defendants, because she was specifically asked to apply. Notably, this alleged request came from a school board member, who, alone, did not have the authority to solicit or hire candidates for the superintendent position,” Smart wrote.

For more information, read Sunday’s HeraldStandard.com.