Former Denver East basketball coach David Carey filed a lawsuit against Denver Public Schools and the DPS Board of Education on Friday in district court, alleging he was “subjected to a pattern of racial discrimination and harassment” during his time at East.
Carey, who worked as the Angels’ head varsity assistant under his dad, longtime Denver East head coach Rudy Carey, began coaching at East in 2012. He was fired in February 2022 for inputting an incorrect pay sheet, a termination that the lawsuit states “was the result of unlawful racial discrimination.”
The suit, filed through the firm Kishinevsky & Raykin, names former DPS district athletic director Karen Higel (since retired) and former East athletic director Dackri Davis (now the principal at George Washington). Carey alleges Higel had “a history of harassing” him at East, and that Davis discriminated against him regarding the enforcement of the school’s mask policy during the pandemic.
There are multiple allegations in the lawsuit directed at Higel. Carey alleges that after a parent accused him of selling edibles to kids — an accusation a DPS investigation “determined that there was no truth to,” the lawsuit states — Higel kept Carey on administrative leave for seven months.
Carey further alleges that “Higel and District officials had a history of subjecting (him) to harassment and criticism that was not directed at white coaches.”
Prior to his termination, the lawsuit states, Carey attempted to clarify his employment status with the district in November 2021, as he didn’t know whether he was paid hourly or by stipend. In reaching out to Davis to discuss this, Davis said he should discuss the matter with Higel. But Carey said because of issues he’d had with Higel, he “did not feel comfortable communicating with her directly.”
The lawsuit alleges Davis “responded by calling (Carey) a ‘stupid idiot’ or ‘stupid (racial epithet).’”
Denver Public Schools officials and Rudy Carey both declined to comment on the lawsuit when contacted by The Post.
Carey was an all-state guard at Denver East in 1993-94 and was the head coach at Montbello, where he won two Denver Prep League titles, prior to arriving at East. The plan was for him to take over the East program when Rudy, now 70, retires.
But the lawsuit alleges that David was ultimately fired for mistakenly inputting too many hours in a December 2021 timesheet, and for also “mistakenly inputting hours for a non-contact day.”
According to the lawsuit, DPS policy is to grant employees a chance to amend a timesheet that’s been submitted with mistakes. Carey, meanwhile, claimed that he never got clarification on his pay and that he “reasonably believed that his pay was based on a stipend — meaning that if he submitted hours beyond what was available in the stipend, he simply would not be paid for those excess hours.”
The lawsuit claims the reasons for firing Carey were “pretextual” and that “no one (in DPS) has been terminated for a mistaken timesheet before.” When he was fired, DPS accused Carey of also falsifying a timesheet in 2019, which the lawsuit rejects. Carey hasn’t been with the team over the past couple seasons as Denver East made the Final Four in 2022 and then his father broke the CHSAA wins record and the Angels won the Class 6A title this year.
Carey is seeking attorneys’ fees and costs from DPS plus punitive damages in compensation for “psychological, emotional, and reputational damages in addition to economic damages and the loss of educational and career opportunities.”
Carey’s legal team will ask DPS to “waive service” on the lawsuit, meaning the district would accept the lawsuit without having the school board members individually served. If DPS agrees to that, the district will have 60 days to file an answer to the lawsuit, or a motion to dismiss. Regardless, both sides are likely facing a three-to-five year legal process in the case.
Amid this lawsuit, Carey still hopes to re-join his the Angels’ coaching staff.
“He still wants to be at East,” said Carey’s attorney, Igor Raykin. “His relationships with the people and kids at East are still good, and his relationships with the people in the community are great.”
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