A former executive director of instructional technology at the West Virginia Department of Education who was fired after three days on the job will be allowed to move forward with her lawsuit against the state school board, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Tammy McGraw was fired in 2014 after state schools Superintendent Michael Martirano received an anonymous letter that alleged she misused state funds and falsified travel records while working at a similar post at the Virginia Department of Education. She filed a lawsuit last year to try to get her job back.
On Tuesday, Kanawha Circuit Judge Carrie Webster denied a motion by the West Virginia Department of Education to dismiss McGraw's lawsuit.
Webster, instead, said that McGraw should be allowed to further develop her case.
McGraw also is suing the Virginia Department of Education and Virginia resident Lan Neugent, the person she thinks sent the anonymous letter to Martirano.
The lawsuit claims McGraw was fired over the anonymous letter, which she says contained false information. She also alleges she was never given the opportunity to dispute the information contained in the letter before she was fired.
According to her lawsuit, a Freedom of Information Act request revealed multiple communications between education officials in Virginia and West Virginia in which information about McGraw was exchanged. Emails also show communications between education officials from both states and reporters with the Charleston Gazette and the Richmond Times, McGraw's complaint states.
McGraw is suing over wrongful termination and "injury to reputation and good name resulting from defamation," according to her lawsuit.
After an investigation, the Virginia Office of State Inspector General cited McGraw, a former Virginia education department administrator, for awarding $1.9 million in contracts to companies without soliciting bids.
The investigation found that she received an oil painting from a Massachusetts company after awarding the firm an $850,000 no-bid contract and used state funds to buy a $3,120 digital camera that she kept for herself at home.
An attorney for McGraw, John Wooton, previously said that his client didn't violate Virginia purchasing laws - as the report concluded - because she didn't award any contracts and didn't have the authority to do so. Wooton called the investigation report "incomplete and inadequate."
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.