Randolph Case Featured in National Disability Law Review

Randolph Case Featured in National Disability Law Review

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The Braille Monitor – February, 2001 Edition

Randolph Case Featured in National Disability Law Review

Carol Randolph

From the Editor: Many of us have been aware for more than a year that the
South Carolina affiliate has been fighting a discrimination case for a blind
teacher with more credentials and teaching experience than you can shake a stick
at. Not too surprisingly the case was successfully settled last March, much
to the satisfaction of everyone who believes in the right of blind people to
teach in the public schools.

The following article first appeared in the August 24, 2000, issue of
the National Disability Law Reporter. It was then reprinted in the November,
2000, issue of the Palmetto Blind, the publication of the National Federation
of the Blind of South Carolina. Here it is:

Blind Teacher Signs Contract Ending Suit Against School District

A blind woman who applied for more than a dozen positions with a South Carolina
school district before suing for disability discrimination signed a teaching
contract earlier this month as part of the suit's settlement.

Carol Randolph was already a certified, experienced teacher when she applied
for approximately seventeen different teaching and administrative positions
with the Greenville County School District, said one of her attorneys, Christopher
Danielson of Myrtle Beach. Denied each time, she filed a disability discrimination
lawsuit under Title II of the ADA in July of last year.

The school district initially maintained that Randolph was not qualified for
the position that she sought because she presented a safety threat and would
be unable to discipline students effectively. But a preliminary order in the
case, pursued on the plaintiff's behalf primarily by Robert P. Wood of Columbia,
South Carolina's Rogers Townsend and Thomas, PC, determined that there is "overwhelming
evidence" that blind people can function effectively as teachers. Wood
strengthened that conclusion by deposing two teachers with stellar qualifications
and teaching records.

The case was resolved earlier this year when the school district agreed to
pay Randolph $130,000 and offer her the teaching contract that she signed earlier
this month. In addition, the district agreed to retain the services of the South
Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind, the South Carolina Commission for
the Blind, or a similar organization for the purpose of providing "a program
of sensitivity instruction" to the school district's principals and other personnel involved in hiring decisions.

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