Former Trinity Valley employee alleges gender discrimination, files lawsuit against school
A former Trinity Valley staff member has filed a lawsuit against the Fort Worth K-12 private school, alleging discrimination against herself and other women employees, court documents state.
Carrie Skains filed her suit in the U.S. District Court in Dallas on Dec. 30. It has since been transferred to the court’s Fort Worth’s division.
Skains resigned from her position as Trinity Valley’s human resources director in January, according to a school spokesperson.
“TVS prides itself on a workplace culture rooted in respect and fairness,” the spokesperson said. “As a matter of practice, we do not speak publicly regarding pending litigation.”
The lawsuit comes in the wake of a Dec. 18 letter from the Trinity Valley School Board of Trustees detailing the results of a third-party investigation into allegations of indecent conduct with children by former piano teacher Trent Muse.
According to the letter, the investigation found that administrators, including Skains and then Head of School Blair Lowry, misled parents about why Muse left the school and failed to share crucial information with them.
The Dec. 18 letter constitutes libel, according to Skains’ lawsuit, and she is seeking to recover damages that resulted from loss of her reputation and mental anguish.
Skains began her employment with Trinity Valley in 2012, according to the lawsuit. She alleges in her complaint that discrimination against women is “pervasive in the administration’s culture.”
In February 2023, before the situation involving Muse occurred, the school’s Chief Financial Officer, Adam Wojtelwicz, “in a loud, aggressive manner, subjected Plaintiff to a constant barrage of questions regarding policies and procedures,” the lawsuit states. Skains said she was reduced to tears as a result of the incident.
“At other meetings, other female employees were berated to the same degree, but none of the men were subjected to the same harassing and aggressive treatment,” the suit states.
Skains also accuses Wojtelwicz, who is now the acting head of the school, of increasing the workload for her and other women employed at the school. Male employees received extra compensation when they were given more duties, but the women did not, according to the suit.
Gender discrimination at the school was not limited to Wojtelwicz, according to Skains’ complaint. At a meeting with faculty and staff, “the incoming Board President vividly described in a crude manner the actions committed by a former employee in front of a student,” the lawsuit states in reference to Muse. “Plaintiff believes that these comments were made in such a manner as to make Plaintiff, as Head of Human Resources look incompetent and undermine her abilities to perform her job.”
Lowry resigned from her position of Head of School in early June, around two weeks after Muse was accused of misconduct. Lowry told Skains she believed she was removed from her position because she was a woman, the lawsuit states.
Skains filed an initial charge of gender discrimination against the school with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on June 12. She filed an additional charge in September and received a right to sue letter from the EEOC in November. Skains alleges that the Dec. 18 letter the board of trustees sent to parents was in retaliation for her asserting her rights.
According to the lawsuit, Skains’ attorney was told that Trinity Valley’s investigation into her EEOC complaint “had shifted to actions that Plaintiff took as an employee of Trinity Valley.”
This story was originally published January 12, 2025 at 12:58 PM.
