Music teacher sues over student newspaper article

Churchill County High School's music teacher has filed suit against the school district and several officials as well as the Lahontan Valley News charging defamation of character and libel for a news story published both in the student newspaper and the LVN.

The story centered on allegations by parents that Kathleen Archey failed to submit voice tapes by all of the eligible students seeking to audition for the all state Honors Choir program.

The lawsuit says Archey has followed the same procedures in each of the eight years she has been music teacher at Churchill High and submitted all of the voice tapes of students who qualified for auditions to join the Honors Choir.

The complaint charges that the faculty adviser to the student newspaper was the driving force behind the article because his son was one of the students who didn't make the cut for the Honors Choir auditions.

When officials from the Northern Zone Nevada Music Educators Association said some parents had asked for new auditions for their children, Archey said the only way that would be appropriate is if all the students were given that opportunity, according to the complaint. New auditions were conducted over her objections for at least two students.

According to the lawsuit, the student newspaper article in The Flash "clearly implies that Kathleen failed to submit the audition tapes for certain students who were eligible, which is false."

The complaint charges that the article assigned to a student reporter by newspaper faculty adviser Myke Nelson and "was published as a calculated retribution for not giving the son of a teacher a special break by advancing him to the Honors Choir."

It makes the same charge against the Lahontan Valley News for printing a story about the battle between the school district, Archey and the teachers' union. The union tried unsuccessfully to convince Principal Kevin Lords and district Superintendent Carolyn Ross to block publication of the story, even filing a union grievance to try block the publication.

"Based on the conduct of these individuals, Kathleen's reputation as a teacher has been damaged," the suit states. "She has suffered ridicule and has been rebuked by people who have been influenced by these defamatory and malicious allegations concerning her integrity as a teacher."

The lawsuit blames that damage for effectively ending plans by herself and her husband to open a restaurant in Churchill County.

It seeks damages in excess of $10,000 from the defendants including Ross, Lords, Nelson and Steve Ranson, editor of the Lahontan Valley News.