Douglas County School District IT Director Michael Roth is suing to keep his job.
Roth said he was served a “Notice of Due Process Interview and Garrity Rights” while waiting to testify in a records case against the district in September.
Roth also has filed court documents seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the district from firing him for cause.
In an answer to Roth’s lawsuit, the district is denying any wrongdoing and is seeking a jury trial.
“DCSD replied to the court about my request for an injunction to prevent my termination and they filed documents to request that the court deny my injunction,” said Roth.
Superintendent Frankie Alvarado said he couldn’t comment on the issue.
Roth has been on administrative leave since July 18 after he gave former Human Resources Executive Director Adam Dedmon access to his DCSD Google Account to gather some documents for a complaint that Dedmon has against DCSD Trustees Susan Jansen and David Burns.
“(Dedmon) told me what he was looking for and it was for his complaint against the school district,” said Roth.
According to court documents, the district told Roth, “the concerns are related to you providing an unauthorized access to confidential information to former DCSD employees and your unauthorized access to confidential information of DCSD Trustees and/or other employees.”
Dedmon filed a complaint against Burns and Jansen in May with many allegations, according to court documents filed by Rebecca Bruch of Lemons, Grundy & Eisenburg and Douglas County School District panel counsel.
Roth insists that he was authorized to give Dedmon access.
Roth said part of the duties of technology director is to go through records and provide authorization to access emails and accounts, which had been delegated to him by the prior superintendent.
“We actually allow former students and staff to use a feature called ‘Google Takeout’ to capture all of their emails, and important documents,” said Roth. “I didn’t give him access to anyone else’s account. I didn’t give him access to our network, it was just his own email and drive, which I didn’t see anything wrong with that.”
Roth is represented by Reno attorney Jeff Dickinson.
Roth also filed a whistleblower complaint Dec. 20, 2023, claiming that certain board members violated NRS by not complying with public records laws. Roth sent the complaint to Douglas County School District Administration and to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office then forwarded the complaint to the Attorney General’s office. Roth is waiting for a response.
Roth was a witness in the records lawsuit against four school board trustees and was scheduled to testify but was never called to the stand for the March and September hearings in 2024.
In October, District Judge Thomas Gregory found the four trustees withheld public records and found the district and them liable for the plaintiff’s court fees.
Gregory has yet to issue a decision in response to the parties’ arguments.