A former Compton Unified School District instructional assistant has reached a settlement in his lawsuit against the district in which he alleged he was fired for complaining that a teacher placed a special needs child outside in smoky weather during wildfires.
Mikah Wells’ Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit stated that he was told he was being let go because of a negative performance evaluation as a probationary employee, which he maintained was “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.
On Wednesday, an attorney for Wells told Judge Peter Hernandez that a resolution had been reached and that the settlement was being finalized.
No terms were disclosed.
In their previous court papers, CUSD attorneys denied Wells’ allegations and cited multiple defenses, including that the district was immune from his claims.
According to the suit filed last April 10, Wells was hired as a special needs instructional aide in October 2024 and worked at Kennedy Elementary School, where he assisted students with their education while giving support to the teacher.
In mid-January 2025, 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 stated.
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 alleged. 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 stated.
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 stated 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.
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 the plaintiff contends are false, the suit stated.
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.
Wells’ mother later received a text message that her son was being transferred to Foster Elementary School, but on Jan. 29, 2025, he instead received a letter from human resources confirming his termination, the suit stated.
“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.