KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — A Knox County commissioner is seeking to remove a fellow commissioner from a county-school board education committee following settlement of a federal lawsuit involving her.
District 1 Knox County Commissioner Evelyn Gill is part of a committee composed of commissioners and Knox County school board members. They meet regularly to promote understanding about mutual issues of concern.
Their next meeting is April 17.
Commissioner Larsen Jay, co-chair of the committee, is seeking to remove Gill from the committee. He's supported by Evetty Satterfield, committee co-chair and District 1 school board member.
"Given her being named in a settlement and lawsuit with the school board and her very strained relationship over the years as an educator, I don't feel like she can be a productive and effective member of the Joint Education Committee," Jay said Tuesday.
Jay has submitted a resolution to County Commission seeking her removal from the committee. Commission has a workshop April 15 and a voting session April 22, and the resolution is on the commission's agenda.
Gill, elected to commission in 2016, formerly was a special education teacher with Knox County Schools until resigning in October 2017. She'd been reassigned by the system from South-Doyle Middle School to Fulton High School amid complaints about her conduct.
In August 2018, a Knoxville coupled sued Gill as a former teacher, Knox County, the board of education, Superintendent Bob Thomas, Knox County Schools and South-Doyle Middle School Principal Andrew Brown in U.S. District Court.
They alleged that Gill had been verbally and physically intimidating and abusive to their 11-year-old son, identified as "M.H," while he was a student at South-Doyle.
The boy previously had been a student in the Maryville school system, the lawsuit states. He enrolled in August 2017 at South-Doyle Middle School, according to the lawsuit.
The parents were told that classmates and a teacher's assistant saw Gill being abusive to the boy, the lawsuit states. The state Department of Children's Services investigated.
Gill was put on administrative leave in September 2017.
"...M.H. is a vulnerable, young boy," the lawsuit states. "He has mental disabilities, and has had so since birth."
Gill had previously been the subject of complaints and reviews. She'd been scrutinized over her treatment of a teaching assistant and for often missing school in 2016 to attend commission events.
In 2005, she was reprimanded by education officials after questions arose over her handling of finances while a cheer-leading sponsor at Carter High School, records have shown.
In February, the parents of the child and Knox County attorneys submitted a request to resolve the lawsuit with a settlement. Terms of the settlement are sealed and the dollar amount has been redacted from the joint motion to approve the settlement.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Poplin found the settlement to be "fair and reasonable" and recommended it be approved. U.S. District Judge Travis McDonough approved it March 27.
In light of the settlement, Jay said he thinks Gill should remove herself from the committee. He said he's tried to talk to her about that but hasn't been able to reach her.
Gill did not return a call for comment from WBIR.
As an alternative, Jay said he's now asking commission to take her off the Joint Education Committee.
"My hope was that she would have resigned from that but she hasn't and so the only course of action I have to find another commissioner to fill that important role is to file a resolution dismissing her from the committee," he said.
He said he didn't want the move to overshadow positive efforts between county commissioners and school board members to improve relations through the Joint Education Committee. They're meeting regularly, he said, and strides have been made to create productive relationships.
The school board submits its annual budget to the county mayor every year, and funding for the school system represents about two-thirds of the overall county budget.
Satterfield said Wednesday seeking Gill's removal from the committee is a difficult move to make because she has a "working relationship" with Gill. But she said she and Jay agree it's hard to see how Gill can be objective in light of the accusations against her and the lawsuit resolution.
Knox County Law Director Bud Armstrong, whose office represented defendants in the suit, said he's "not at liberty to talk about the (settlement) other than it is sealed by the court."
Michael Covington, who lives in Gill's District 1, also has requested that Armstrong start an "ouster investigation" of her. Armstrong said Tuesday he has to conduct his own investigation about the request.