Teacher fired for using sick time to attend concert, Ohio board says. Now she’s suing

A former Ohio teacher who was fired after being accused of using sick time to attend a concert with her son is now suing to get her job back.

Eileen Washburn taught English as a second language at two high schools for the Lakota Local School District, in Beckett Ridge, Ohio, and had been an “accomplished rated teacher during her 20 years as an Ohio educator,” according to court documents filed in Butler County. But her employment went under review after officials said she went to a concert in Nashville, Tennessee, on Feb. 8 and 9 — days which she requested to take off for sick leave.

Beckett Ridge is a suburb of Cincinnati roughly a 20-mile drive north from the city’s downtown.

Washburn spoke to multiple co-workers prior to the concert, and the school board began investigating that same month over her alleged falsified sick leave, documents show. When interviewed during a fact finding conference, Washburn was “evasive and hesitant” when answering questions.

She later presented several doctor’s notes “in an effort to explain her absences,” but district officials were not convinced, according to documents.

“Washburn engaged in a pattern of conduct leading up to and after the (Fact Finding Conference) in an effort to disguise the true reasons for her absences,” documents read.

Washburn’s case made national headlines in April when her job still hung in the balance. However, her employment was officially terminated on Oct. 28, prompting a lawsuit filed Nov. 26 against the Lakota Local School District’s board of education.

In the lawsuit, Washburn’s attorneys say she took time off on Feb. 8 and 9 due to side effects of a medication she was taking as a result of previous surgery, which her doctor attested to.

However, her school’s principal “asserted that (Washburn) was a liar, that her doctor was unethical, and that he was moving for her termination,” the suit says.

Washburn’s attorneys also argue that she is being treated unfairly and differently than other school employees who were “disciplined less harshly or not disciplined at all for using sick leave when they are not sick.”

Washburn is suing to be rehired to her teaching role at the high school, and to be made whole “for all of her losses, including … back pay and all contractual benefits and full restoration of seniority in all respects,” as well as the cost of attorney fees, the lawsuit reads.

The district responded in a Dec. 24 court filing, denying many of the claims laid out in the lawsuit, repeatedly saying “the record speaks for itself,” and calling for the suit to be dismissed.

McClatchy News reached out to the school board and Washburn’s attorney for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Washburn is currently a member of the Loveland City School District’s school board, which she has served on since 2017, the board’s website says.

“Washburn and her husband, Doug, have been residents of Loveland since 2005 and have two children,” it read.

This story was originally published January 2, 2025 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Teacher fired for using sick time to attend concert, Ohio board says. Now she’s suing."