Iowa City school liaison to homeless files injunction to prevent her firing

IOWA CITY - An Iowa City schools employee put on leave last month has requested a court injunction to keep the district from firing her, asserting she was put on leave as retaliation for whistle-blowing.

Stephanie Van Housen was placed on paid leave April 8 after she showed community members a behavior disorder classroom at Grant Wood Elementary and complained about school officials not letting her reserve a room partially funded through Iowa City for a meeting, according to documents filed with the petition for an injunction.

'Respondent has threatened to discharge petitioner from her employment for engaging in protected conduct described in Iowa Code Section 70A.29 (1),” said the petition filed Thursday in Johnson County.

Iowa law says public agencies can't fire an employee for sharing information with a lawmaker, state and city official or law enforcement officer 'if the employee reasonably believes the information evidences a violation of law or rule, mismanagement, a gross abuse of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.”

An April 13 reprimand from Jim Pedersen, chief human resources officer for the district, confirms that Van Housen - who served as a liaison for homeless students - was put on leave after going outside the chain of command with her complaints.

'Concerns were expressed by various district employees that you were sharing disparaging remarks about either district personnel and/or district programing [sic],” Pedersen wrote in the memo Van Housen filed with the injunction petition.

'You gave unauthorized tours of special education rooms to community members at Grant Wood Elementary and shared your negative views of the district's special education program. This included pictures that were distributed throughout the community and now have become a public document,” Pedersen continued.

Kat Litchfield, a University of Iowa employee who has worked on literacy efforts at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville, saw the behavior disorder classrooms with Van Housen. She wrote to community members about her concerns with timeout rooms and restraints used on children.

'These are solitary confinement cells,” Litchfield wrote, describing photos she included. 'Children are placed inside for three minutes. If their behavior is not improved, another 3 minutes are added. Some students are inside for as long as 20 minutes at a time.”

Another photo showed what Litchfield described as a harness used to restrain children's arms on a school bus to keep them seated.

'We can talk all day about the school-to-prison pipeline, it's a catchy phrase, but tonight I saw it right here in our privileged city.” Litchfield wrote.

Litchfield's message was forwarded to state Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, who followed up with an email to Iowa City Superintendent Stephen Murley and city officials, asking questions about the community room and the behavior disorder classrooms.

Van Housen has also filed a prohibited practice complaint with the state Public Employment Relations Board.