A former South Pasadena Unified School District teacher who says she was a target of a foiled student mass shooting plot in 2014 is suing the district, alleging she was branded as mentally unstable and was the victim of an administration campaign to end her teaching career until she was terminated in 2023.
Adriana Wiedermann’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges retaliation, disability discrimination, failure to prevent discrimination and retaliation and failure to engage in the interactive process and to provide a reasonable accommodation.
Weidermann seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the suit brought Friday.
An SPUSD representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Wiedermann was hired in 2002 and was a “celebrated and trusted teacher” at South Pasadena High School until she was targeted as the intended victim of a school shooting plot in 2014, the suit states.
“Plaintiff was identified on a kill list that was prepared by several SPHS students as part of a shocking scheme to kill SPHS faculty, staff, and students in a mass-murder school shooting plot” averted when the plot was uncovered and stopped by the South Pasadena Police Department, the suit states.
When one of the students made a deal to turn on his two alleged co-conspirators in exchange for leniency, the district allowed him to complete his education at SPHS “(alongside) those he had plotted to kill,” according to the complaint.
Traumatized about sharing her workplace with a student who allegedly planned to shoot her, Wiedermann went on worker’s compensation leave for two school years until the student graduated, the suit states.
When she returned in 2016, the high school administration “branded her mentally unstable and started a campaign to end her teaching career,” according to the suit, which further alleges the plaintiff was considered a pariah by the administration and was the target of constant heightened scrutiny and criticisms.
Wiedermann was required to share classroom space with the English Department chairperson, something only asked of junior-level teachers and not veterans such as her, the suit states.
“It was even revealed that the district failed to follow its own procedures in its eagerness to censure plaintiff and was required to remove certain derogatory language from plaintiff’s performance review,” according to the suit.
The SPUSD “created and embellished” false allegations against Wiedermann, including that she did not turn in her grades to the administration on time, the suit states.
“The truth was that the district began to scrutinize plaintiff’s job performance through an entirely different lens” compared to other teachers, according to the suit, which further states that she produced he students’ grades on time in 2019 despite her father’s death that year.
Wiedermann, whose PTSD worsened — allegedly due to her frustrations with the administration — was denied any meaningful accommodations, the suit states.
The administration asked Wiedermann to retire at the end of the 2022-23 school year or face unpaid suspension and possible termination, according to the suit, which additionally states that the plaintiff was in fact fired in 2023 and that an attempt was made to revoke her teaching credential.
Wiedermann has suffered financial problems and emotional stress from losing her job, the suit alleges.