Lawsuit: White Fla. Teacher Fired for Having Black Boyfriend
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By Stephen A. Crockett, Jr. theRoot.com
A former Orange County, Fla., schoolteacher says her choice in mate, music and friends is the reason she was fired from her job, and she has filed a lawsuit seeking justice.
Audrey Dudek and her husband, Stacey Cobb.
According to WESH, Audrey Dudek, a former math teacher at Edgewater High School, claims she was fired in 2013 after school officials learned that her then-boyfriend, now husband, is black…
According to the lawsuit viewed by WESH, school officials were “shocked and offended” after learning that Dudek’s husband, Stacey Cobb, is black, and that she associated with black faculty members. The lawsuit also alleges that some faculty didn’t like Dudek because she played “black music” in her classroom and some students had dubbed her classroom, “Club Audrey.”
“The assistant principal complained to her to her face, talking to, and I quote, those people, referring to black members of the faculty and staff,” Tzuanos told WESH.
The lawsuit also claims that during her tenure, white faculty allegedly performed a racially charged skit wearing “blackface, Afro wigs, gold teeth and baggy clothing.”
In addition, Dudek claims that her performance evaluations suffered.
The school district told the news station that the teacher’s contract was not renewed due to budget cuts…
The Florida Commission on Human Rights investigated Dudek’s claims and found there is reason to believe that Dudek was “treated differently based on her gender and race association,” according to the station.
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