A Baker City woman and her daughter have filed suit against the Baker School District alleging that district officials retaliated against the daughter after she complained about the actions of Baker High School volleyball coach Warren Wilson.

Roberta Fast and her daughter, Katrina Fast, contend in the suit, filed Tuesday, that the school district violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Oregon law in its response to their concerns about Wilson.

The complaint, which demands a jury trial and seeks “an award of damages against (the District) in an amount to be established at trial” was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court at Pendleton by Jennifer J. Middleton, a Eugene attorney.

Middleton said in a telephone interview Tuesday that her clients are especially interested in assuring that the District is required to change its policies regarding sexual harassment and retaliation against those who report it.

“(Katrina) Fast is an incredibly brave and strong young woman,” Middleton said. “It took a lot of courage to make the report and to continue to pursue it.

“She should have been listened to sooner,” Middleston said of Katrina. “The school district needs to be held accountable for taking a brave, strong young woman and attempting to quash her dreams.

“She hopes to play again next year and I hope they all get an opportunity to do so,” Middleton said, referring to the school shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On Tuesday, Baker School District Superintendent Mark Witty provided this statement via email in response to the Herald’s request for a comment about the lawsuit:

“While the District has been advised not to respond to specific allegations, the District can share that it disputes the allegations in the Complaint and looks forward to addressing and resolving those claims through the course of the litigation process.

“The District cares deeply about all of its students and is continually working to improve its systems, policies and practices to ensure students feel safe and supported at school,” he said.

The Fasts’ lawsuit seeks to require the District to adopt and enforce a comprehensive anti-retaliation policy regarding Title IX violations. Punitive damages, also to be determined at trial, are sought in an amount to deter future violations.

The complaint alleges that when Roberta and Katrina Fast complained to the District about what they considered Wilson’s excessive and unwanted touching of Katrina Fast and other members of the Baker High School volleyball team in 2018, and after their complaints were “publicized” by the District, Katrina, who is now a BHS junior, “was subjected to harassment and ostracization and ensuring that she would not play varsity volleyball.”

The complaint also alleges that the Fasts were retaliated against for exercising their First Amendment rights guaranteeing freedom of speech. They claim that when they “spoke out on matters of public concern,” they were further retaliated against. Those matters include their complaints about Wilson, the 2019 hiring of Chelsea Hurliman as BHS volleyball coach, and the District’s alleged failure to investigate the Fasts’ initial reports of retaliation against Katrina.

The complaint notes that Wilson was kept on as a BHS volleyball coach after he had been disciplined by the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC) in November 2017. The discipline was imposed after the School District investigated a complaint against Wilson for alleged “inappropriate teacher/student boundaries” in regard to his interaction with student athletes in his role as BHS girls JV basketball coach in 2015.

Wilson signed a stipulated agreement on Sept. 23, 2017, in which TSPC found that his actions constituted “gross neglect of duty,” in violation of state law.

His teaching license was suspended for 60 days and he was placed on two years’ probation.

In their complaint, the Fasts contend that after he was disciplined in 2017, Wilson “continued to engage in the same kinds of behaviors toward Katrina Fast and others” in his role as volleyball coach.

The complaint further alleges that the behavior was reported to the junior varsity coach, the BHS athletic director, the assistant principal and the principal. It alleges that no action was taken against Wilson and that the District’s Title IX officer was not notified.

Roberta Fast ultimately took the issue to Witty. Witty fired Wilson from his jobs as head volleyball coach and assistant baseball coach on Feb. 25, 2019. The firing was appealed to the Baker School Board and Wilson’s termination was upheld in a unanimous vote during a public Board meeting on March 19, 2019.

During the meeting, Wilson’s supporters criticized the way the issue was handled and spoke favorably of Wilson’s character and coaching abilities. A member of the volleyball team urged the Board not to act based on comments from a few players who were dissatisfied with the coach and how much playing time they had been given.

Witty said at the time of Wilson’s 2019 firing that after the District investigated the 2015 complaints against Wilson — the situation that led to his punishment by the state agency in 2017 — district officials gave Wilson a written directive regarding his conduct and required that he complete Safe Schools training and training on the Coaching Handbook.

The Fasts’ complaint alleges that BHS Principal Greg Mitchell’s hiring of Hurliman as the 2019 volleyball coach over a more experienced applicant led to Katrina Fast not making the varsity team.

Hurliman, who is the BHS assistant principal, is among the administrators who failed to take corrective action against Wilson after his alleged inappropriate behavior was reported, the Fasts contend in the lawsuit.

It further alleges that every girl who had played on varsity in 2018 when Wilson was coach, except Katrina, also made the varsity team in 2019, when Hurliman was coach, including another junior player who had a back fracture and was unable to try out.

Due to what she considered unfair treatment of her daughter, Roberta Fast then contacted Buell Gonzalez Jr., who was hired as a full-time athletic director in June 2019, replacing Tim Smith, former part-time athletic director. The complaint alleges that Roberta Fast told Gonzalez that she believed the decision not to play her daughter on the varsity team was in retaliation for their complaints against Wilson, resulting in Wilson’s firing.

Gonzales took no action on her complaint, the lawsuit states.

The Fasts claim that as a result of the District’s retaliation against them, Katrina Fast “has experienced emotional distress which has, on some occasions, caused her to miss school. She lost the opportunity to letter in the sport that she has worked at since she was small. Because she is not on the volleyball team, she has lost opportunities for recruitment by college scouts. She has lost her core social group. She has been denied full and equal education opportunities.”

In regard to Roberta Fast, the complaint states that she “has been denied the benefit of speaking freely on matters of public concern without fear of retaliation against her child.”

The complaint alleges that the District further inflicted emotional injury on Roberta Fast through her daughter “in order to punish Roberta Fast for her advocacy, reports, and criticism on matters of public concern.”

In their claim for relief for retaliation in violation of Title IX of the federal Education Amendments of 1972 and for retaliation for exercising First Amendment rights, the Fasts seek punitive damages to be awarded at trial on the allegations that the District denied their rights. Because of that action Katrina “has been denied full and equal educational opportunities and has suffered emotional distress and loss of opportunity for her future.”

The complaint further alleges that Roberta Fast “has suffered sleeplessness, worry, sadness, and other emotional distress in amounts to be determined by a jury at trial.”

“The school district needs to be held accountable for taking a brave, strong young woman and attempting to quash her dreams.”

— Jennifer Middleton, attorney for Katrina and Roberta Fast

“The District cares deeply about all of its students and is continually working to improve its systems, policies and practices to ensure students feel safe and supported at school.”

— Mark Witty, Baker School District superintendent