JoAnn Gama (Photo from LinkedIn)
Former IDEA Public Schools CEO and cofounder JoAnn Gama sued the organization Thursday, alleging she was discriminated against and used as a “scapegoat” for financial scandals that occurred under her predecessor.
Gama replaced Tom Torkelson, IDEA’s former CEO and one of its founders, in 2020 after criticism over plans to spend money on San Antonio Spurs tickets and a private jet for the district.
Further financial concern followed after news broke that IDEA purchased a boutique hotel in Cameron County.
In May 2021, IDEA announced that both Gama and COO Irma Munoz were exiting the system following a review of misuse of the organization’s resources and funds.
In her suit, Gama contends that her usage of resources was examined by the organization’s internal review processes and approved, never receiving criticism or being directed to perform corrective action.
IDEA’s board told the public that anonymous emails detailed allegations of financial misuse at the district while announcing the administrator’s departure.
“The School’s press release mentions ‘anonymous emails’ but purposely failed to mention that they were received well over a year prior to Gama’s termination,” Gama’s suit reads. “The School’s Chief of Staff, Jessica Hess, told Gama that some members of the Board had an evidenced-based belief that the anonymous emails came from Mr. Torkelson.”
On Saturday, IDEA issued a statement that both praised Gama for being “instrumental” to “past success” and called her “choices” into question.
“What the IDEA Board of Directors shared in May 2021 with the IDEA community remains unfortunately true a year and a half later: JoAnn Gama and other individuals who were instrumental to IDEA’s past success also made choices that were fundamentally at odds with IDEA’s values and mission,” IDEA said in the statement. “The Board dismissed Ms. Gama because of her actions and her inaction, not because of who she is. IDEA will make that evident in our response to her lawsuit, and we are confident the Court will agree.”
IDEA also said in its statement that “compelling evidence” from an independent review remains under law enforcement investigation for what the school district alleged was a small group of former IDEA leaders using “financial and staff resources for their personal benefit without authorization.”
Gama led the district for about a year.
In April 2020, she told IDEA’s board that funders were concerned about how the district was using its money, and that some had become critical of Torkelson. She told them that she and other members of the administration were giving Torkelson a “vote of no-confidence” because of those financial concerns.
The suit says that members of the board encouraged Torkelson to resign, knowing about the questionable financial decisions.
“During the negotiation of Mr. Torkelson’s exit from the School, a member of the Board was communicating the Board’s deliberations to Mr. Torkelson to Mr. Torkelson’s advantage,” it reads. “In the end, Mr. Torkelson was permitted to resign and was given a severance package amounting to over a million dollars.”
Gama took the helm after that and took aim at Wyatt Truscheit, the organization’s CFO, although the suit says she was pushed to allow him to resign rather than be terminated.
After his exit in July 2020, Trusheit sued IDEA, claiming breach of contract.
In August 2020, Gama’s suit says she executed a contract with the district outlining the terms under which she could be terminated.
“Despite having the same amount of time with the School, Gama’s compensation was several hundred thousand dollars less than what Mr. Torkelson was paid for the same work and did not include the same executive benefits component the Mr. Torkelson’s contract provided,” the suit reads.
Gama claims that she was not idle in addressing financial concerns at the school system. The suit says she overhauled policies and procedures, revamped the board’s finance committee, setup audit and governance committees and requested the board retain an independent auditor to review the use of IDEA resources.
“The Board granted Gama’s request for an independent audit and retained an auditor,” it reads. “Once the audit commenced, Gama thoroughly complied with all of the auditor’s requests.”
However, in May 2021, Gama claims she was notified of an upcoming board retreat where her presence would not welcomed.
“When the Board exited executive session, Gama was not called in to attend the regular meeting nor was she even informed that the Board voted to terminate her employment,” the suit reads.
The next day, Gama says the board convened the entire IDEA senior leadership team, which she began greeting.
“While doing so, the Board’s chairman, Al Lopez, instructed Gama to report to her office. Once there, Ms. Gama was issued a ‘Notice of Termination’ from ‘Al Lopez, Board Chair and Acting Superintendent of the School, IDEA Public Schools,’” the suit reads. “The Notice of Termination baldly alleges that Gama failed to ‘adhere to the standards of conduct and professionalism expected of [her] in [her] position as an officer of IDEA, and for violations of policies and applicable standards and procedures.’ However, the Notice of Termination failed to give Gama any reasonable notice, whatsoever, of what she is alleged to have done or failed to do.”
Lopez — who died while serving as interim CEO in February — then had Gama escorted from the building, the suit says. Gama claims that series of events caused her to be professionally and personally discredited in front of her peers.
During a grievance process last year, Gama says her termination was not reversed and that she was never told what she did or did not do to earn that termination.
Gama is suing for punitive damages, attorney’s fees and compensatory damages, including lost earnings, mental and emotional pain, and nominal damages.
“Gama asserts that she was paid significantly less than Mr. Torkelson, for the same work, because as a Hispanic female, she was expendable and could be used as a scapegoat for the Board’s failure to oversee the use of School resources by its white male CEO and white male CFO,” court filings read. “Gama denies that IDEA had cause to terminate her employment but also asserts that because of her race and sex, she was not given the option to resign nor offered a severance, as her predecessor, Mr. Torkelson, was given.”
Filings also state that IDEA’s “malintent to discriminate is also demonstrated by its decision to parade her in front of her peers” after Gama was terminated.
“While the School allowed Mr. Torkelson to resign quietly with a severance to avoid media notoriety, the School took steps to publicly fire and humiliate Gama for things she did not do,” the filings stated.
