Longtime teacher files suit against The Meadows, claiming discrimination

A longtime teacher at The Meadows School in Las Vegas has filed a federal lawsuit against the private school over her termination.

Melissa Wolfbrandt, 64, filed the lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court.

The complaint alleges that the school discriminated against Wolfbrandt on the basis of age and sex, and retaliated against her after she attempted to submit grievances and complaints.

Wolfbrandt was hired at The Meadows School in 1994 as a physical education teacher and worked there for more than 25 years, according to court documents.

Her attorney, Adam Fulton, and a spokeswoman for the school declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Wolfbrandt previously filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and was issued a right-to-sue notice in July.

Court documents allege that then-Athletic Director Claude Grubair — who is now the interim head of school — made “aggressively disparaging comments” toward Wolfbrandt during a gym scheduling meeting in 2020.

The school didn’t have a human resources department or any procedure for Wolfbrandt to submit a formal grievance, according to court documents.

Documents allege that Jeremy Gregersen, then the head of school, informed her the next morning, “I am HR,” and joked that the athletic director “came in hot” during the meeting.

Gregersen wrote up Wolfbrandt because she didn’t agree with his characterization of what occurred during the meeting, “most importantly, failing to address Mr. Grubair’s action,” according to the documents.

For more than a year, the athletic director would “continually malign” Wolfbrandt privately and publicly with no action taken by the school administration, according to court documents.

The documents also state that Wolfbrandt was called into a meeting in September 2021 because of an incident in which a student struck another child in the face.

“After receiving confirmation from various other students that the Student struck another child in the face, Plaintiff spoke to the Student,” court documents state.

The student told Wolfbrandt that he didn’t strike the other child, and Wolfbrandt told the student she didn’t believe him.

Wolfbrandt was informed during a meeting with a school administrator that she needed to publicly apologize to the student, even though the administrator “agreed that the Student admitted to lying” — something a school counselor also confirmed, according to court documents.

Other P.E. teachers were present during the incident involving the student, but none were questioned by school administrators, documents state.

Also, male teachers and younger teachers at the school who were involved in disputes with students or parents weren’t requested to apologize, according to the court documents.

Gregersen later told Wolfbrandt that he would accept her resignation “due to her refusal to apologize,” court documents allege. She refused, and Gregersen informed her that she was being discharged for “gross insubordination.”

Wolfbrandt is seeking damages, including lost wages and back pay, and attorney fees.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.