Three former instructors who were fired after reporting serious problems in the Missouri Southern State University nursing program filed a lawsuit against the university's Board of Governors in Jasper County Circuit Court Tuesday.
The lawsuits, which were filed by Sara Staples, Joplin, Peyton Kessler, Oswego, Kansas, and Coeta Ogle, Carl Junction, allege whistleblower retaliation and breach of contract.
The problems in the program nearly caused it to receive the death penalty from the State Board of Nursing and resulted in a voluntary moratorium beginning in the spring semester in which no students will be enrolled in the program while MSSU officials try to get their act together.
The investigation of the program was launched after the state board received an anonymous tip about violations of state regulations.
Kessler, Ogle, Staples and one other person suspected of possibly providing the tip were fired.
The three came on the radar screen of university officials when they reported the problems during a faculty accreditation meeting in March.
The alleged violations, most, if not all, which were borne out by the subsequent State Board investigation, are spelled out in the petitions, which are virtually identical:
Starting at least as early as February 2020, plaintiff complained of, reported and opposed various practices and conditions of the School of Nursing, including
-Inadequate staffing and overload
-Inadequate student/teacher ratios
-Overworked faculty
-Inadequate resources
-Unfair treatment of faculty
-Failure to follow policies
The practices of which plaintiff complained constituted reports of mismanagement, violations of policy, abuse of authority and violations of the laws governing accreditations of nursing programs in the state of Missouri as described below:
In March 2020, plaintiff and others attended a faculty accreditation meeting where many of these items were discussed. Specifically, at that meeting, plaintiff reported inadequate staffing, overworked faculty and other violations.
The Missouri Nursing Act sets forth the requirements for the approval of an accredited nursing program in the state. See 20 CSR 2200-2.
Plaintiff worked under a series of one-year contracts with defendant. Defendant's policies required that notice of renewal or non-renewal be sent by March 1 of each year.
Defendant did not inform plaintiff on non-renewal by March 1, 2020. Instead, plaintiff (was) verbally told she would be renewed and was provided with a contract to teach the following year- 2020 to 2021. The contract was due to be signed and returned by early August 2020.
The Missouri State Board of Nursing, responding to an anonymous complaint, began an investigation into the MSSU Nursing Program in the spring of 2020.
Plaintiff continued reporting illegal conduct and violations of policy through the spring and summer of 2020.
The onsite portion of this investigation was delayed repeatedly due to concerns of the COVID-19 outbreak.
On July 8, plaintiff wrote a report complaining about these same issues to the faculty senate.
A meeting with the faculty members and the Board of Nursing investigator was scheduled for July 9, 2020. Upon information and belief, the board was investigating the same issues about which plaintiff had been raising.
Plaintiff's supervisor warned a coworker of plaintiff that unless she found out who made the anonymous complaint that led to the Board of Nursing investigation, she would fire plaintiff and any others who she thought were responsible.
Just prior to the meeting, plaintiff's supervisor instructed her not to attend the meeting. This was done to keep plaintiff from further reporting misconduct.
On July 28, 2020, plaintiff and three other employees who had either reported illegal activity and/or objected to violations of policy, management, and abuse of power, were terminated.
Staples, Ogle and Kessler are being represented by the Thornberry Brown law firm of Kansas City.
The firing of the four alleged whistleblowers was first reported in the August 24 Turner Report, which described the
problem their supervisors had in explaining why they were no longer with the faculty:
At a time when they were already aware they had to have eight full-time nursing faculty members, Missouri Southern State University rescinded contract offers to four veteran instructors they believed had provided information to the State Board of Nursing.
The decision to punish suspected whistleblowers forced university officials to scramble to fill the positions and they were still three teachers short when the fall semester opened one week ago.
Under grilling by state board members during Thursday's meeting, neither Paula Carson, the university's provost and vice president of academic affairs, nor Lisa Beals, the interim department chairman, was able to provide a satisfactory explanation of why the four instructors, all of whom planned to return, were no longer involved in the program.
MSSU nursing program escapes death penalty, no new students after this fall unless officials get their act together
5 comments:
BAM! The reign of terror is becoming public. Provost Paula Carson is a dangerous bully and creates her own rules and policies. Unfortunately, the previous President of the University left her unchecked and she became emboldened to destroy anyone who disagreed with her and her tactics. Hopefully the new President will be more hands-on and alert to her power trips that have injured many good faculty members. Ultimately, the students lose out on a great education. Mediocre won't be good enough in a profession like nursing---we need excellent trained nurses.
Well, there won't be anymore "excellent trained nurses" graduating out of Southern. This lawsuit will close the program.
Play stupid games win stupid prizes!
One wonders if a few of these people are looking forward to their depositions.
It is possibly are they such toadies and little napoleons they don't even have a clue what they really are in for.
Closing the program is a consequence of BAD management, not because a lawsuit is filed. The lawsuit in itself, is a consequence of BAD management. The common denominator is BAD management. There are plenty of great nursing programs in the area---PSU, Crowder, NEO, Ft. Scott, etc.
@anonymous 8:15 - what makes you think that?
@anonymous 5:39 - huh??
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