Langan featured in book, By LAUREL BEAGER, Editor

“Plaintiff Blues” details woman’s story of discrimination and retailiation

A book written by an Iron Range resident that features a local school superintendent has recently won several awards.
“Plaintiff Blues: Job Discrimination and the Chilling Effect of Retaliation” written by Judith Pearson of Lake Vermilion, has won national awards in three categories from the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Earlier this year, Plaintiff Blues won national recognition in the Memoir category from the 2008 Eric Hoffer Awards for Books, recognizing freethinking writers and independent books of exceptional merit.
Pearson's story describes the job discrimination she says she encountered in two northeastern Minnesota school districts. The lawsuit she won against the St. Louis County School District was followed by devastating retaliation. Pearson's 17-year story starts in 1986 when she applied for the Cook high school principal position and was told, "Hell will freeze over before we hire a woman principal at the Cook High School," and “The rumor is that you are sleeping with the superintendent!” She sued and won.
Pearson’s book gives readers the story behind the newspaper headlines, including the personal and professional costs she paid for exercising her civil rights.
The book, published in 2007, features among other people Falls School District Don Langan, who Pearson says retaliated against her and others for budget decisions and filing grievances by transferring them to other jobs.
Langan told The Journal that he had not read the book.
“Claims of retaliation or discrimination, whatever, the author of the book took all of those claims to every administrative remedy including court and failed to prevail on any of them,” Langan said. “That’s why the title, Plaintiff Blues. The plaintiff is blue because she could not and did not prevail.”
The author of the 378-page book coins the phrase “Langanese,” which she describes as his use and manipulation of language as a control tactic.
“I thought at first he was just trying to impress everyone with his vocabulary. I later concluded there as a more sinister motive. Control,” she writes in the book.
Meanwhile, the book details a search for a superintendent for School District 2142, which results in Langan’s hiring. The process was described by The Duluth News Tribune as “prolonged and somewhat bizarre,” according to Pearson. Langan’s candidacy for the position was announced after other candidates had been named finalists. Pearson also claims the process violated the state’s Open Meeting Law by conducting board meetings and calling them study sessions.
Pearson will sign copies of her books at the Great Virginia Get-Together, July 1-6 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., in the North Room of the Miners’ Memorial Building and at Woodward’s Bookstore in the Thunderbird Mall, July 3, 2-4 p.m. Books are available at Woodward’s, and the Mineview Visitors’ Center, just south of Virginia.
Published book reviews and additional readers comments can be viewed at www.plaintiffblues.com. Books are also available at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com.