A former Compton Unified School District instructional assistant is suing his ex-employer, alleging he was fired earlier this year in retaliation for complaining to the administration that a special needs child was placed outside the classroom by his teacher during smoky weather conditions from the January wildfires.
Mikah Wells’ Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit states that he was told he was being let go because of a negative performance evaluation as a probationary employee.
“The stated reason for Mr. Wells’ termination is defamatory, malicious and a pretextual cover up of retaliation for his protection of a student’s well-being and reporting of conduct that in his view endangered a young student,” according to the suit, which seeks unspecified compensatory damages as well as attorneys’ fees.
A CUSD representative said Monday that the district is reviewing the suit.
According to the suit filed Thursday, Wells was hired as a special needs instructional aide last October and worked at Kennedy Elementary School, where he assisted students with their education while giving support to the teacher.
In mid-January, about a week after the start of that month’s wildfires, a student began stimming, which involves repeated vocalizations and is associated with autistic students, the suit states.
The teacher grew frustrated with the student for disrupting her lesson and threatened to put the pupil outside in the cold and smoke without a mask if he did not stop, the suit alleges. But the student continued stimming and Wells refused the teacher’s order to remove him, so the teacher did so on her own, the suit further states.
Wells got the boy’s jacket and gave it to him, then escorted him to the office for his safety, according to the suit, which further states that Wells filed a complaint against the teacher with an administrator as a “mandated reporter” and visited the principal later that day to tell her what occurred, the suit states.
However, the principal told Wells that the teacher had brought a complaint against him for being a “bad employee, being on his phone and wearing headphones in the classroom,” allegations which the plaintiff contends are false, the suit states.
The administration explored transferring Wells to another school, but he was also given a performance improvement plan that was written by the teacher which he contends was part of the backlash against him for filing a complaint, the suit states.
Wells’ mother later received a text message that her son was being transferred to Foster Elementary School, but on Jan. 29 he instead received a letter from human resources confirming his termination, the suit states.
“CUSD’s wrongful conduct has not only harmed Mr. Wells financially, but has also had a profound emotional impact on him,” according to the suit, which further states that the plaintiff feels “anxious, depressed, humiliated and worried about his future.”