Recent court documents detail the complaints filed against Superintendent Bruce Karam prior to him being place on leave by the school board.
UTICA, N.Y. – More details into the complaints against Utica City School District Superintendent Bruce Karam have surfaced amid an ongoing lawsuit filed by Karam.
Karam was placed on paid administrative leave in October pending an independent investigation into complaints filed against him by other District employees.
Then in December, Karam filed a lawsuit against the District, four members of the Board of Education and the new acting superintendent, Brian Nolan. In the suit, Karam claims his contract was violated when he was placed on leave.
According to court documents filed on Jan. 27, a male District employee contacted an assistant principal to file “a formal complaint of a toxic work environment against the superintendent of schools” in September 2022. The complaint included allegations of unfair hiring practices, discriminatory comments against employees and an unprofessional work climate.
Then on Oct. 6, 2022, a female employee filed a complaint with Human Resources, also alleging Karam created a “hostile and toxic work environment.”
The employee claims she witnessed Karam make sexually explicit remarks to other administrators; use derogatory slurs about Asian staff members and homosexual employees; and refer to part of the administration building as the “dog pound” because everyone was so “fat and ugly.”
At the last Board of Education meeting, all members voted unanimously to keep Karam on leave.
Oral arguments regarding the defendants’ motion to dismiss are scheduled to begin on Feb. 21.
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