NEW ORLEANS - A legally blind teacher who had a school district revoke its job offer has lost her appeal of a Galveston federal court ruling that said she wasn't qualified.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on April 24 ruled against Suzonne Kakoolaki, whose cone dystrophy prevents her from identifying faces and their expressions. She also can't see standard print and has to use a magnifier.
Though she scored a conditional job offer at Central Middle School subject to background and reference checks, the Galveston Independent School District later withdrew it. She claimed under the Americans with Disabilities Act, two accommodations would help her perform her supervisory duty: a full-time classroom aide and help from other teachers.
"But to grant either request would amount to a reassignment of a teacher's primary responsibility to monitor student behavior," a three-judge panel wrote.
"As a matter of law, those requests are unreasonable. The ADA does not require an employer to relieve an employee of any essential functions of his or her job, modify those duties, reassign existing employees to perform those jobs, or hire new employees to do so."
It's the same finding that U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Edison made on Sept. 27, when he granted GISD's motion for summary judgment.
The school offered her a job at Central Middle School in July 2021, after which Kakoolaki, who uses a cane and a service dog, informed it she had a visual impairment that she says would have no effect on her ability to teach.
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 teaching 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 ADA," 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, or 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 them.