Former counselor files lawsuit against MLSD

MOSES LAKE — A former Moses Lake School District counselor has filed suit against the school district alleging discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination following what she alleges was a demotion and involuntary transfer.

Dana Santos also named former MLSD administrator Dave Balcom and Columbia Middle School assistant principal Michael Nordsten as individuals in the suit. The lawsuit was filed in Grant County Superior Court March 13.

District officials declined to respond to a question from the Herald.

“We cannot comment on legal matters,” wrote Claren McLaughlin, the district’s marketing and public relations specialist.

Public entities and businesses often do not make statements to the press regarding pending legal matters.

Santos resigned in July 2021 and is asking that details about the circumstances leading to her resignation be removed from her employee records, and district officials be prohibited from disclosing those details. She’s also asking for monetary damages.

The lawsuit alleges that Nordsten objected to Santos’s attempts to schedule an assembly at Columbia and Frontier middle schools and Moses Lake High School by Jordan Chaney in spring 2021. Chaney is a Pasco poet and speaker who was on a task force appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee to look into independent investigations of police use of force.

Santos’s lawsuit claims Nordsten objected to the appearance by Chaney, and that the appearance was canceled at short notice. In the filing, Santos said that later that day she was placed on administrative leave. In the complaint she said that Balcom later told her the administrative leave involved a complaint about unrelated remarks made by Santos that were considered to be derogatory.

“(The district’s) handling of the purported allegations against Mrs. Santos directly violated her right to due process and written notice under her employment agreement. On information and belief, Mrs. Santos was also treated more harshly than white colleagues that had much more severe allegations made against them,” the lawsuit filing states.

After she returned from administrative leave Santos was transferred to Larson Heights Elementary, which the lawsuit says was a demotion. Santos also is alleging her Larson Heights office didn’t have adequate provisions for disabilities she suffers, and that she was told she could not apply for any other counseling job in the subsequent school year.

The lawsuit alleges the district didn’t complete some of the actions required under the contract with the Moses Lake Education Association, and district officials delayed meetings with her to discuss her concerns.

The district had not filed a response to the lawsuit as of Monday afternoon, according to Superior Court officials.

Santos is being represented in the case by NLH Law Offices, based in Spokane.

The Columbia Basin Herald will continue to follow this case as it develops.