The former Moab Community School director is suing the school for unpaid wages of about $40,000. She also claims the decision to terminate her was an illegal decision made in an illegal meeting.
The school is a former K-8 private school-turned-charter in Moab that targets students who struggle in the traditional system and offers smaller class sizes.
Theresa Carey, the school's former director, worked to get the school's charter approved with the state and then served as the school's administrator until last winter. But she said she has yet to be compensated for all of the time she worked there.
Carey filed suit last month in 7th District Court in Moab.
Carey was placed on administrative leave in mid-January after the State Charter Board got wind of concerns about the financial operations at the school.
The state office launched an investigation, sending its internal auditor to go over the school's finances, and found evidence of financial mismanagement but no criminal activity.
Carey said most of the problems came from having to switch the books from a private school to a public school and all could be fixed with some help from the state.
State officials recommended the board not reinstate Carey, a decision that the MCS board would have to make.
But Carey said the board violated open meetings law when they made the decision to let her go.
In mid-March she said the board held a closed "secret" meeting, before the MCS board meeting, which was unannounced, thus violating the law.
She also claimed that during that meeting only six of the school's nine board members were in attendance. Three voted for termination and three abstained.
With the lack of a majority the action would technically fail, said Carey.
"They never really fired me," Carey said. "It was also a totally illegal meeting on top of that and it wasn't even a majority vote."
Even so, the board sent her a letter and issued a public statement announcing she had been terminated.
"They just need to go back and fix all that," Carey said. "I am sure they are going to go ahead and fire me anyway but at least it would be done correctly instead of how it was done — not above board, in a secret illegal meeting and not by a majority."
E-mail: terickson@desnews.com