GPS bus driver's suit details sex harassment

Apr. 28—A former Gilbert Public Schools bus driver is suing the district, alleging she was wrongly fired after complaining of unheeded sexual harassment.

Chandler resident Mary Christine DeWitte filed her federal suit in December after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission gave her the go-ahead to do so.

The Governing Board met behind closed doors on the lawsuit last week and was scheduled on the April 23 agenda to take action. President Sheila Rogers Uggetti, however, announced that the board did not need to vote on the item.

"We cannot provide information regarding pending litigation," district spokeswoman Dawn Antestenis said.

The district's attorney in its response to the lawsuit denied DeWitte's allegations and asked the court to dismiss the complaint with prejudice and award GPS attorney fees.

DeWitte drove GPS school buses from 1994-99 and from 2012-18. Her attorney, Chris Suffecool, did not respond to a request for comment.

DeWitte began experiencing problems on the job when the district hired Paul Potts as the new transportation director in mid-2017, according to the suit. Potts, who no longer works for the district, could not be reached for comment.

Antestenis said that Potts resigned Aug. 30, 2019, at the end of his contract for the 2018-19 school year.

DeWitte claims that Potts repeatedly subjected her to "verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature, including referring to her in derogatory terms, asking if he could squeeze between her legs, repeatedly leering at her, stalking her, and implying that her work experience would be better if she would acquiesce to his sexual desires."

TV media first reported on DeWitte's allegations in October 2018 and at that time Potts declined to comment.

According to DeWitte, in her first meeting with Potts, he said "'Come on in, young lady,'" which she said she found demeaning.

DeWitte claims that Potts said office staff informed him that she was "'nice' to work with, pronouncing 'nice' in a way that was innuendo and suggestive."

Potts allegedly told DeWitte that he heard she was "especially 'nice' to her supervisors, again saying it in a suggestive manner."

"Finally, Mr. Potts raised his eyebrows and asked if plaintiff was going to 'play nice' to her supervisors," the suit states. "Plaintiff cut him off and said she was not going to play those games with him. Mr. Potts responded he was sure plaintiff would play games as this wasn't his first rodeo."

The suit claims Potts would make suggestive remarks and because DeWitte would not participate in his "demeaning and sexually harassing behavior," he began a "campaign of targeted harassment and retaliation against plaintiff."

On July 17, 2017, "based on a fabricated safety violation," Potts took away DeWitte's ability to drive for summer-field trips, which eliminated two months of income for the single mom, the suit states.

She alleges that he took away her summer duties because she would not engage in his "sexually aggressive behavior towards her."

DeWitte says she protested and told Potts that she followed Department of Public Safety regulations and Arizona statutes at all times. She claims he responded that "he was the director of transportation and could make whatever decision he wanted to."

"Mr. Potts' stripping of plaintiff's duties violated GPS policies relating to discipline and improper removal of job duties," the suit states.

Seven days after Potts prevented her from driving, DeWitte says she wrote him an interoffice memo asking him to stop calling her "cutesy nicknames like 'young lady' or similar terms, and to please address" her by her name.

DeWitte also claims that Potts would often follow her around their work area and stare at her in a manner that made her feel uncomfortable.

She says she forwarded to the assistant superintendent overseeing human resources her memo to Potts and never got a response.

"Mr. Potts continued to use terms plaintiff found derogatory and demeaning, such as 'young lady,' 'sunshine,' and 'kiddo,'" the suit states. "A few days later, Mr. Potts saw plaintiff in a meeting, stood uncomfortably close to her, looked down at her and said, 'How are you today, young lady?' emphasizing the term 'young lady.'"

She claims she didn't know how to respond and was "frozen with fear."

DeWitte sent another letter to the assistant superintendent, outlining Potts' behavior and unfair treatment towards her and that "he had intentionally walked up to plaintiff and called her 'young lady' in an attempt to intimidate and harass her."

The suit claims that DeWitte has information and belief that several other women also have complained about Potts' behavior to the assistant superintendent and that the district "was aware of Potts' harassing behavior towards not only plaintiff but other female employees as well."

A district hearing and compliance officer was tasked with investigating DeWitte's allegations.

At this time, the suit states, DeWitte had several "serious safety-related concerns regarding other drivers and children's safety." She informed Potts of her concerns but was ignored, the suit says.

On Aug. 2, 2017, DeWitte emailed the compliance officer 15 videos "showing safety-related issues involving school bus loading/unloading at a GPS elementary school."

Antestenis said the district could not comment on DeWitte's safety concerns as it is part of the pending litigation.

According to DeWitte, Potts continued to harass and demean her.

"A few days later, around Aug. 9, 2017, plaintiff was sitting alone in the training room and Mr. Potts stuck his head in the door, scanned the room to make sure no one else was around, stared plaintiff directly in the eyes and, in an antagonistic manner, said 'Hey there, kiddo,'" according to the suit.

DeWitte says she sent a third complaint to Potts, to the assistant superintendent and to the compliance officer on Aug. 14.

Three days later, the compliance officer concluded that Potts "should not have taken plaintiff off her assigned field trips and plaintiff should have been put on paid leave or given replacement trips."

The findings also include GPS polices that Potts ignored or not followed, the suit states.

It also states that the compliance officer found Potts' harassment of DeWitte was "'unintentional' and there was not sufficient cause to discipline Mr. Potts."

The suit alleges that soon after, Potts informed DeWitte's supervisor that he had instituted a complaint against her with DPS and that she "would soon not be driving for GPS any longer."

"Mr. Potts' complaint about plaintiff to the Arizona Department of Public Safety was fabricated and a retaliatory attempt to get plaintiff fired from her job," the suit says. "Mr. Potts continued to harass plaintiff, approaching her from behind in the hallway, leaning into her ear, and saying very loudly 'good morning' and then laughing in plaintiff's face, rolling his eyes and walking away."

DeWitte says she went up the line of command and informed district officials that Potts "scared her and she did not feel safe around him."

She even asked the compliance officer to make Potts leave her alone and stop antagonizing her.

Instead Potts ratcheted up his harassment.

"In September 2017, while DeWitte was standing in the dispatch office, learning against the copy machine, while Mr. Potts was walking down the hallway and, upon spotting plaintiff, changed his direction so he could walk right up to plaintiff," the suit says, "Mr. Potts then looked directly at plaintiff's crotch and said, 'Hey there, young lady, can I squeeze in there? Mr. Potts was asking if he could squeeze into plaintiff's crotch.

"Mr. Potts followed, confronted, and stared at plaintiff in an inappropriate manner on multiple occasions, and other employees often asked plaintiff why Mr. Potts was behaving like this to her."

DeWitte says that despite multiple pleas for help to the district, Potts' behavior continued unabated.

She says that in late September, Potts called her after work hours to tell her that DPS had revoked her bus driver certification. He asked to meet with her that evening at their workplace but she refused as the two would be alone in the empty building.

"This refusal bothered Mr. Potts, who stammered a bit before telling plaintiff that she could not drive the following day," the suit says. "Plaintiff asked for how long she would be unable to drive and Mr. Potts told her she could reapply for her certification in one year."

DPS sent her a formal letter of her revocation in October. She later got her certificate reinstated after DPS cleared her of wrongdoing.

DeWitte says she filed a complaint with EEOC because she was fed up with Potts' harassment and the district's failure to address the issue.

When DeWitte got reinstated, she said the district moved her out to "Power Base" where she would be driving the bus from.

"This was further retaliation by the district as Power Base was significantly further away from plaintiff's house and would require plaintiff, who was already scraping by on food stamps and AHCCCS, to spend an additional $75 a month on gas," according to the suit.

DeWitte told the then-interim superintendent and the assistant superintendent that the bus base was too far from her home but the two didn't listen to her.

She says she later emailed the assistant superintendent for a gas stipend or gas card or if she could take a district van to Power Base, as other drivers have done but got no response. She proceeded to email the assistant superintendent two more times asking for some kind of relief but was ignored.

DeWitte also claims the district's attorney "on at least two occasions, via email, tried to 'strong arm' plaintiff into 'tattling' on her co-workers by threatening plaintiff 'until she provided names of co-workers who also had complaints about Mr. Potts, that she would remain where she was.'"

"Many female bus drivers reached out to plaintiff (to) offer their support and thanking her for taking a stand against Mr. Potts on behalf of all females," the suit says.

Dewitte alleges that while working at Power Base, the supervisor there was directed by Potts and the district to continue to harass and abuse her.

"They instructed staff at Power base to watch plaintiff like a hawk, not to trust her, not to interact with her, and to try to find something on her to get her terminated from her job," the suit says, adding that another employee was recruited to "follow, spy, watch, and report on plaintiff" to Potts.

In May 2018, DeWitte sought an order of protection against Potts due to his "escalating obsessive behavior." She eventually was granted an injunction against harassment.

DeWitte says after she continued to ask to be transferred back to Gilbert Base, the district for the first time said she was sent to Power Base because "she had been unprofessional, belligerent, insubordinate and disrespectful to Mr. Potts and many of her co-workers." DeWitte denied the district's claims.

She alleges that the district made up reasons to fire her, including that she called in sick in May 2018 and a district employee saw her driving a bus for a charter school that day.

It was during the Red for Ed teacher strike in the district so Dewitte said she called "out of work" and not sick in order to earn income.

Although the strike abruptly ended, DeWitte said she was still scheduled to complete a final field trip for the charter school.

"No one ever told plaintiff that this was something she should not have done, it was raised for the first time in her termination letter, a trumped-up allegation used to retaliatory terminate plaintiff's employment," the suit alleges.

DeWitte was notified of her termination May 30. She said she appealed the firing but the district did not issue a written decision on it.

According to the suit, even after DeWitte was fired, Potts "was still asking plaintiff's co-workers about plaintiff's whereabouts — whose house she was at, who else was there, what they talked about, etc."

"Even with the order of protection in place, upon information and belief, Mr. Potts went to plaintiff's residence and rearranged the patio furniture, setting a chair and table directly in front of the door with a magazine open on the table, to purposely intimidate plaintiff and let her know 'he was watching,'" the suit says.

"Upon information and belief, Mr. Potts continued to retaliate against plaintiff by interfering with her ability to obtain employment elsewhere, instructing other districts not to hire plaintiff."

DeWitte is asking for compensatory damages, punitive damages, reinstatement with back pay and lost employee benefits, reasonable attorney fees and costs and any other relief the court deems just and proper.