DSUSD employee files race discrimination lawsuit agaist the district

The only black instructional coach at the Desert Sands Unified School District has filed a race discrimination lawsuit against the district. She alleges the district refused to accommodate her during the Covid pandemic.

DSUSD said it does not comment on pending litigation.

News Channel 3 I-Team investigator Peter Daut met with the plaintiff, Dr. Ashley Gervin, who said the district stripped her of her benefits, assigned away her duties, reduced her pay, and even moved her office repeatedly among other things.

Gervin, 43, said she is a severe asthmatic and feared for her life if she had to return to work in-person during the pandemic.

According to her lawsuit, her doctor ordered her to work remotely in 2021, even though the DSUSD began transitioning students and staff back to the in-person setting.

Gervin said DSUSD denied her request to work remotely, even though other non-black employees in the district were allowed to do that.

She added that the district overzealously sought to attain her private medical information and challenge her doctor's orders and also began to retaliate against her, essentially demoting her.

"My office got moved next to the bathroom, I was away from all the other employees I worked with, I was next to really nobody that I worked with directly, half of my position was taken away and given to somebody else, even though our numbers had dropped significantly," Gervin told Peter Daut.

A judge has ordered the case will go to trial in January.

You can watch Peter Daut's full, in-depth interview with Gervin at the top of the article.