Talk of her abortions, sex life and alleged racism led to Kansas teacher’s firing

The Kansas Court of Appeals has dismissed a defamation lawsuit by a former substitute teacher who was fired after telling students about her two abortions and her sexual habits, along with alleged comments about the causes of homosexuality, sexual assault, the death of Eric Garner and the abuse of welfare by African-Americans.

On Feb. 25, 2015, Elizabeth Herrman filled in for language arts teacher Brandon Williams at Wichita East High School. When Williams returned the next day, he found students had not completed their assignments. The students, along with fellow teachers, told numerous tales of their unusual conversations with Herrmann about politics and sex.

Herrman, according to court documents, admits she told the students she had two abortions, she doesn’t trust doctors or dentists, that she’s a Libertarian, that she didn’t have sex the way teenagers do today, that she’s a Federalist, that she’s a Catholic and that the value of a dollar is seven cents.

Students claimed Herrman said sexually assaulted girls who wear short shorts are “asking for it,” that men have uncontrollable libidos and that black people have children in exchange for increased welfare payouts. She has denied making those statements.

Williams, who had never met Herrman, gathered reports from students and staff about her alleged comments and compiled a lengthy email to the school’s principal under the subject line “Shocking Statements from my Substitute on 2/25/15.”

Herrman “either blatantly disregarded her instructions or distracted students by having conversations on a wide variety of inappropriate and shocking topics,” Williams wrote. Though he noted students often embellish stories, he said the students’ reports had been confirmed by other teachers and employees at Wichita East.

Herrman defended her actions, saying many of the 28 controversial statements listed had been taken out of context. Students, she said, “had a bad attitude and no interest in the assignment,” leading to the unusual conversations. Talk of politics and sex was often started by the students, she said.

“I don’t know why I revealed such personal information but I suppose I just got worn down by the questions,” Herrman said.

It was Herrman’s seventh negative evaluation in eight years, according to the school. As a result, the school district accepted her resignation in place of firing her on March 9, 2015, two weeks after her comments to the students.

The next month, Herrman sued Williams, alleging his lengthy email evaluation amounted to defamation. After Sedgwick County District Court Judge Kevin O’Connor dismissed the suit, she appealed to the Kansas Court of Appeals, representing herself. A three-judge panel of the appeals court considered the case last month and issued its opinion Friday.

Defamation in Kansas is defined as false and defamatory words that are communicated to someone else and injure the reputation of the person defamed. There is an exception — known as “qualified privilege” — for employment communications made in good faith between people who have duties related to what was said.

“Does a qualified privilege apply to Williams’ email, as the district court found? Yes,” wrote Judge Steve Leben in the appeals court ruling Friday. “Williams had an interest in reviewing Herrman’s performance because he has an interest in ensuring his students receive quality teaching and keep up with scheduled lesson plans.”

Furthermore, Leben wrote, Williams only sent the email to people who shared an interest in ensuring quality teachers. The email did not gossip wildly; it was limited to the scope of a performance review.

“Herrman suggests that the length of the email indicates that Williams wrote and sent it in bad faith,” Leben wrote. “But while the list of 28 statements suggests that Williams may have been upset, it doesn’t prove that he wrote the list out of some sort of bad motive. He just didn’t want Herrman to substitute for his class in the future.”

Chief Judge Thomas Malone and Judge Henry Green Jr. agreed, unanimously upholding the Sedgwick County judge’s dismissal of Herrman’s lawsuit. Because the lawsuit was dismissed due to qualified privilege, the court made no ruling on its merits, such as Herrman’s claim that Williams lied about her classroom behavior.