By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

THE Board of Education yesterday expressed a sigh of relief over the jury’s favorable verdict in the Public School System case involving the wrongful termination charge a teacher filed against a former principal and PSS.
BOE Chairman Roman Benavente said PSS could have ended up paying teacher Lisa Black $300,000 to $500,000 had the jury found former Hopwood Jr. High School principal Jim Brewer and PSS liable.
“I want to congratulate our legal counsels, Heather Kennedy and Karen Klaver, for doing a very good job. If we had lost, it would have been a burden on the community because of our economic situation. We are short of funds,” said Benavente in a phone interview.
“If we had lost that case, we would be paying restitution in the amount of $300,000 to half a million,” he added.
PSS’s annual local budget hasn’t been increased for several years now although its student population has grown to more than 12,000.
Benavente said he sympathizes Lisa Black but the jury has spoken.
In her 2005 complaint filed in federal court, Black claims she was denied due process when she was terminated and that her civil rights were violated.
Prior to the jury’s decision, the Attorney General’s Office charged Black with assault and battery for hitting a co-teacher, Roy Starkey, on the head, on April 8, 2006.