Judge dismisses discrimination & retaliation lawsuit against individual defendants, but trial will continue against Mason City school district as a whole

MASON CITY — A district judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the superintendent, the current human resources director and the school board president of the Mason City Community School District, but a former employee’s claims of discrimination and retaliation against the entire school district will move forward.

Former human resources director Jodie Anderson filed the lawsuit last July against the school district, superintendent Dave Versteeg, board president Jodi Draper and human resources director Tom Drzycimski. Anderson, who served the school district between July 2015 and when she resigned in June 2017, claims she complained about the school district paying male employees more than female employees, and that there was retaliation against her.

Anderson asked to have Drzycimski removed from the lawsuit last September, and now District Judge DeDra Schroeder has ruled that Versteeg and Draper are dismissed as defendants in the lawsuit. Schroeder in her ruling says that Versteeg was not hired by the district until a month after Anderson’s resignation, and Draper as an individual member of the school board cannot be held liable for the actions of the school board as a whole.

A trial date for Anderson’s lawsuit against the school district has not been set.