NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A former human resources administrator for Metro Nashville Public Schools says he faced retaliation and was finally forced to resign for insisting that sexual harassment complaints get proper investigations.
Scott Lindsey, who filed a lawsuit back in December, said he finally decided to speak out about the toxic culture under Schools Director Dr. Shawn Joseph after the district's own law firm recently warned of a morale crisis that threatens Metro Schools' ability to attract and retain good employees.
"It was almost kind of like -- and I'm not making this up -- it's almost as if ISIS took over an HR department. That's the only way I can describe it," Lindsey told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
A highly acclaimed human resources professional, Lindsey rose to become the district's executive director for employee relations.
Then, in 2016, Dr. Shawn Joseph was named Nashville's director of schools.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "So when did you first realize that perhaps things were not going to go well with this new administration?"
"Oh, almost immediately," he answered.
Lindsey said that, when a teacher brought a loaded gun to school and left it in the library, he was puzzled when Joseph did not want to fire him.
"That was a head-scratcher for me," he recalled. "Why would you not terminate that person? He brought a firearm to school. People could have gotten killed, hurt."
And when an Overton High School teacher got into a physical altercation with a student, Lindsey prepared a form that the director was supposed to use for reporting teacher misconduct cases to the state.
He said he expected Joseph's office to submit the form.
"He never did it," Lindsey said. "In fact, he never did any of them because those were his decisions."
The State Board of Education is currently investigating Joseph's failure to report those misconduct cases.
Then, in 2017, a sexual harassment complaint was filed against one of Joseph's friends, Metro Schools administrator Mo Carrasco.
Lindsey put Carrasco on administrative leave...
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