GALVESTON - A legally blind teacher is appealing her loss in a lawsuit against the Galveston Independent School District, which allegedly reneged on hiring her rather than accommodate her disability.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Edison on Sept. 27 granted GISD's motion for summary judgment, finding plaintiff Suzonne Kakoolaki was not a qualified candidate for the sixth-grade teaching position at issue.
The school offered her a job at Central Middle School in July 2021, after which Kakoolaki informed it she had a visual impairment that she says would have no effect on her ability to teach.
Kakoolaki has a degenerative retinal disease that left her legally blind. She can't see faces, only silhouettes of people, and uses a cane and service dog.
Principal Monique Lewis went over Kakoolaki's duties after offering the job. They included classroom management, safety and security.
In return, Kakoolaki informed the school what she would need: screen-reading and magnification software, a closed-circuit TV, a tablet and training. On July 27, 2021, Kakoolaki was told the teachig position had been offered to another candidate, resulting in Kakoolaki filing a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
GISD's defense said Kakoolaki failed to show she was qualified to perform the essential functions of a teacher.
"Even though Kakoolaki has presented direct evidence of discrimination, she has failed to present evidence to establish an essential element of her case: that she was a 'qualified individual' under the (Americans with Disabilities Act)," Edison wrote.
Under the ADA, a "qualified individual" is one who can perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodations.
Kakoolaki admitted in a deposition she couldn't perform classroom management tasks alone. She can't see exactly what students are doing, like holding a weapon, engaging in sexual activity, is looking at their phone or cheating.
Kakoolaki said her method includes moving about the classrooms and interacting with students, while seating bad-behaving students close. She collects cell phones from students and designs her tests to eliminate cheating.
But when asked how she would handle a student bringing a gun to class, or other problems, she said she would hopefully have an assistant who could handle.
"Because managing student behavior is an essential function of the job that Kakoolaki is unable to perform by herself, I must determine whether Kakoolaki has offered a reasonable accommodation that would enable her to manage the classroom effectively," Edison said.
"To the extent Kakoolaki suggests that GISD hire or assign an assistant to be present in the classroom at all times to monitor the students and alert her of any student misbehavior, such a proposal is, as a matter of law, an unreasonable accommodation."
On Oct. 24, Kakoolaki appealed Edison's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.