Andrew King sued the city school board yesterday, claiming he was improperly passed over this year during the search for a superintendent and illegally demoted after the new superintendent arrived.

	Post-Gazette Andrew King

In the lawsuit, filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, Dr. King asks that the district be ordered to conduct a new search for superintendent. Dr. King also asked a judge to overturn his "demotion."

Dr. King was chief academic officer, the district's No. 2 official, when the board decided in January to replace Dr. John Thompson as superintendent.

In the lawsuit, Dr. King said he agreed to serve as interim superintendent during the search for Dr. Thompson's successor and obtained the board's written promise to return him, once the search ended, to "a position equivalent to that of chief academic officer in rank and salary." Dr. King also applied for the superintendent's job.

The board tapped two former superintendents, Dr. Richard C. Wallace and Dr. Helen Faison, to conduct the search. Thirty-six people applied.

Dr. Wallace and Dr. Faison excluded Dr. King from consideration without an interview, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit said only four applicants, including Mark Roosevelt, the person ultimately hired, were forwarded to the board for consideration.

Dr. King claims the selection process was illegal because the board lacked authority under the state School Code to delegate the search to private individuals.

Even if the board had authority to delegate the work, the lawsuit said, the board didn't give Dr. Wallace or Dr. Faison permission to reject applicants. At most, the resolution hiring the former superintendents authorized them to gather applications, according to the lawsuit, filed by lawyer Avrum Levicoff.

Because Dr. King met the School Code's standards for superintendent, the lawsuit said, Dr. Wallace and Dr. Faison must have developed additional evaluation criteria without the board's authorization and rejected his application for "secret, subjective" reasons that could have included discrimination.

Bruce Campbell, the district's lawyer for labor and employment matters, said he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

Neither Dr. Wallace, who is white, nor Dr. Faison, who is black, could be reached for comment last night. Dr. King is black.

The lawsuit noted Dr. Wallace and Dr. Faison were to be paid with unspecified "foundation sources" and questioned whether those sources wanted certain applicants excluded from consideration. The suit described Mr. Roosevelt, who is white, as less qualified than Dr. King.

The lawsuit asks that a judge declare the search illegal and order the district to undertake a "proper" search that gives "meaningful consideration" to all qualified applicants.

After Mr. Roosevelt joined the district in August, Dr. King returned to his position as chief academic officer, in keeping with the board's promise months before. But in September, the lawsuit said, Mr. Roosevelt requested that Dr. King accept a new position called special assistant to the superintendent for high school reform.

Dr. King viewed the position as a demotion and refused to accept it. In a gesture of goodwill, the lawsuit said, Dr. King said he would accept a job to be called special assistant to the superintendent for compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind Law.

The board rejected his offer, abolished the position of chief academic officer and made Dr. King the superintendent's assistant on "special assignment," the lawsuit said. The lawsuit said the board breached its contract with Dr. King by ousting him as chief academic officer and violated state law by offering him no appeal.

Mr. Roosevelt and Dr. King later agreed that Dr. King would monitor No Child Left Behind and have a title reflecting that work. The position pays $125,000, the same Dr. King made as chief academic officer.

The lawsuit asks that Dr. King be reinstated as chief academic officer and awarded legal costs and unspecified damages.