The Maryland State Board of Education upheld Frederick County Public Schools’ decision to fire a former employee, who has filed a federal lawsuit against the district, due to an “unprecedented backlog” of work — including over 500 unprocessed teacher certifications.

Sarah Ianacone, a former personnel officer for FCPS from 2013 to 2021, filed a federal lawsuit in April alleging the district assigned her an unreasonable workload compared to her colleagues and fired her due to her disabilities and requests for accommodation.

Prior to filing the lawsuit, in October 2022, she appealed her termination to the Frederick County Board of Education, which issued an opinion upholding the termination a year later in October 2023.

Ianacone then appealed the local board’s decision to the Maryland State Board of Education (MSDE). The state board said in March that it found the local board’s decision was justified.

FCPS fired Ianacone “because she failed to process 517 teacher certifications, 155 course renewals and 140 tuition reimbursements — an unprecedented backlog which had the potential to jeopardize FCPS’s mission,” MSDE said.

Jim Eisenmann and Benjamin Smith, who are attorneys at Alden Law Group which is representing Ianacone in the lawsuit, did not respond to requests for comment on the opinion on Wednesday.

While Ianacone was a personnel officer in the human resources department, her main responsibilities were related to managing all aspects of the Maryland Educator Certification for all FCPS certified staff.

Her duties included processing new and renewal certificates for staff members, which was mentioned in both MSDE’s opinion and her suit.

Ianacone also had duties related to FCPS’ course approval/tuition benefits (CA/TB) program, in addition to her certification responsibilities.

The program aims to support FCPS staff with professional growth, getting additional credits for salary advancement and maintaining compliance with assignments and certifications, according to the lawsuit filing.

Ianacone had been completing certification and CA/TB responsibilities up until 2018, when she requested the CA/TB program duties be transferred away from her, according to the MSDE opinion.

The lawsuit Ianacone had filed said that “from June 2013 to April 2021, CA/TB program tasks were not a part of [her] daily responsibilities.”

In April 2021, Ianacone’s supervisors transferred the CA/TB program to her to do in addition to her certification duties.

She had sent emails to her supervisors in the months before and after being assigned the program, voicing concerns about the volume of work and the impact it would have on a growing backlog of certifications.

FCPS assigned another full-time employee and a part-time employee to help Ianacone with the additional workload, according to MSDE’s opinion. Ianacone’s lawsuit states that the other full-time employee resigned from FCPS in June.

At the time CA/TB was transferred to her, Ianacone had been working remotely for several months.

Ianacone has multiple medical conditions that qualify as disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the lawsuit alleges.

In October 2020, she requested a telework accommodation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic because she is immunocompromised by her disabilities.

She kept renewing her accommodation request through July 2021, which FCPS approved on the condition that Ianacone come into the office on weekends, according to MSDE.

Ianacone would have to come into FCPS’ central office to access physical files as part of her certification duties, and the files weren’t permitted to leave the building.

In July 2021 after Maryland’s COVID-19 State of Emergency had been lifted, Ianacone submitted a request to telework indefinitely. An FCPS employee spoke with Ianacone about other potential accommodations, including a hybrid work schedule, but Ianacone was not willing to work hybrid, MSDE said.

The request was denied because “it became apparent to her managers that she was unable to perform the essential functions of her work under the telework option and she was needed in the office … to address the unprecedented backlog in certification work.”

According to the MSDE opinion, on Aug. 2, 2021, Ianacone shared a list of work she hadn’t completed, which included 155 course approvals, 140 tuition reimbursements, 313 June 2021 certificate renewals and over 200 2020 new hire certificates.

Ianacone told FCPS she didn’t have enough resources or time to complete her work, which her supervisors believed was an insufficient explanation.

FCPS conducted an investigation into the certification backlog. It revealed that from March of 2021 to June of the same year, security data showed that Ianacone only accessed the administration building twice.

Data from the technology office showed that Ianacone’s logins to the system she had to use for certification work were “irregular, late and, in some instances, did not conform with expected work hours,” the opinion alleges.

As a result of her telework request being denied, Ianacone took family and medical leave and filed a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The charge alleged that FCPS gave her a disparate workload because of her disabilities and accommodation request, and that the district failed to provide her with reasonable accommodations.

FCPS fired Ianacone in September due to the certification backlog, and she amended the discrimination charge to include allegations that FCPS fired her due to her disability and in retaliation for requesting an accommodation.

MSDE’s opinion argues that the Frederick County Board of Education’s decision to uphold firing Ianacone is based on “thorough written findings of fact and law,” and there is no evidence her supervisors knew about her discrimination charge until after she was terminated.

“The record contains a plethora of documents and witness testimony that evidence [Ianacone] was granted reasonable accommodations but did not perform the essential functions of her job,” MSDE’s opinion alleges. “… we find that there is no factual or legal basis to conclude that the local board’s decision was arbitrary, unreasonable, or illegal.”