The Pennsylvania and Allegheny East branches of the NAACP have announced their full support in the lawsuit Korie Morton-Rozier has brought against the Gateway School District on the basis of racial discrimination.

Mrs. Morton-Rozier said in her federal court suit that she was rejected for the athletic director position because she is married to a Black man.

“I believe that she would have gratefully accepted the fact that she didn’t get the position if that evaluation process was simply on the basis of her qualification,” Todd Hollis, Mrs. Morton-Rozier’s legal representative, said in a press conference Wednesday.

Mrs. Morton-Rozier has been the athletic director at Penn State Greater Allegheny since 2014.

“Regardless of what happens to this lawsuit it is not about money, it is about change,” Mr. Hollis said. “We were brought up on the principles that equity is truly to be the evaluation for anybody’s character, not who you love.”

Mrs. Morton-Rozier has filed the complaint against the district and school board member Paul Caliari. According to the suit, Mr. Caliari sent a text message to the board asking whether Mrs. Morton-Rozier dated “the darkies.”

Later in the message chain, Mr. Caliari explained that he had gone to college with two brothers whose last name was Darki, and was asking if Mrs. Morton-Rozier had dated one of the brothers.

“The Pennsylvania state NAACP, as well as the Allegheny East NAACP, will not sit idly by and be silent while school board directors grapple with whether or not to show favoritism to a specific candidate because of their race. It is absolutely reprehensible what Mr. Caliari put in a text message and or email to any of his fellow board directors,” said Ken Huston, Pennsylvania NAACP president. “I have not heard darkie used since I read about it in the Jim Crow era.”

The NAACP is seeking Mr. Caliari’s resignation from the school board immediately, Mr. Huston said. 

“The NAACP is willing to sit down and talk to the leaders of the Gateway School District any time. I do intend to address the school board as a resident and the local branch president,” he said.

Mr. Hollis and Mr. Huston both have children in the Gateway school system.

“This has nothing to do with the good work that all of the many teachers at the Gateway School District are doing on behalf of our kids,” Mr. Huston said. “This is only about the hiring process of the Gateway School Board of Directors.”

Hallie Lauer: hlauer@post-gazette.com

First Published: January 6, 2021, 6:13 p.m.