Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 29, 1994                   TAG: 9403290072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TEACHER SUES BOARD

The lawsuit, filed last week in the Danville division of the U.S. District Court, alleges that the teacher, Lari Scruggs, was denied her First Amendment right to free speech. It also alleges she was unfairly relieved from her job and denounced in local, regional and national media, hurting her chances of seeking other employment.

The suit also names as defendants Superintendent Leonard Gereau, Principal William Gibson, two students, a woman unaffiliated with the school system, and Nadine Keen, the former English teacher who reported the alleged remarks to school administrators.

Both Keen and Scruggs resigned at the end of the 1992-93 school year.

Scruggs seeks her former job or similar employment, and $1 million in compensatory damages.

School administrators declined to comment on the case, and other defendants could not be reached.

The controversy erupted in February 1993 when two white students asked Scruggs, who also is white, her opinion on interracial dating and discussed a black-history assembly with her. The two girls, offended by Scruggs' response, told Keen, who is black, that Scruggs lectured them against interracial dating and expressed amazement that the girls would want to go to a "nigger" program.

In the lawsuit, Scruggs denies using racial slurs and says she was within her First Amendment rights when she told the students interracial dating could lead to problems.

She alleges that the two students, Kelly Steele and Elizabeth Abshire, "conspired" with Keen and Linda Edwards-White to injure her by distorting her remarks.

Edwards-White revived a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People soon after the incident.

After Keen complained to Gibson, principal of Franklin County High School, Scruggs was suspended for three days.

Scruggs alleges that because Keen and Edwards-White were dissatisfied with the punishment, they spread news of the alleged incident to the media.

Scruggs was suspended for 10 more days and notified that her contract would not be renewed, forcing her to resign, she says.