MNPS Lawsuit Settlement: $6.5M Payout and Calls for Resignation

Metro Nashville Public Schools agreed in July 2025 to pay $6.5 million to settle a federal retaliation lawsuit brought by five former central-office administrators who said they were pushed out of their jobs after reporting misconduct and questioning the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle. The MNPS $6.5 million settlement was approved unanimously by the school board on July 22, 2025, the same day a jury trial was scheduled to begin in Hayes v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County.¹

Who Sued and Why

The five plaintiffs were Dr. Jenai Hayes, Dr. Lily Moreno Leffler, Dr. James Bailey, Dr. Pippa Meriwether, and Dr. Damon Cathey. All had held senior positions in the district’s central office before losing their jobs or being demoted during a spring 2020 reorganization. Hayes was Director of School Choice. Meriwether and Cathey were associate superintendents. Leffler was Executive Director of School Support for elementary schools in the southeast quadrant. Bailey was a central office administrator.²

Their claims included First Amendment retaliation, race, sex, and age discrimination, violations of tenure rights under Tennessee law, and violations of Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.³ The specific complaints that allegedly triggered retaliation varied by plaintiff, but three episodes ran through the case.

The first was a February 2020 lesson at Waverly Belmont Elementary in which a Vanderbilt student-teacher had fourth graders fold themselves under their desks and pretend to seek freedom from slavery, built around a speech by a 1700s plantation owner. Hayes’s son, who is Black and has autism, was in the class. Hayes filed Title VI and privacy complaints with the district. The student-teacher was dismissed, and the supervising teacher was placed on administrative leave before returning to his job.⁴⁵

The second involved Dr. Battle’s brother, Carlton Battle, a basketball coach in the district. Several plaintiffs alleged they recommended disciplinary action against him over a physical altercation with a parent and the mishandling of school funds, and that they were removed after pushing for accountability.⁶

The third involved a grade-falsification investigation. Cathey, then a community superintendent, concluded that a high school principal had violated MNPS grading policies and recommended termination. Dr. Battle, then interim director of schools, rejected that recommendation. Cathey’s own position was later eliminated.⁷

Bailey’s claims were brought under the Tennessee Public Protection Act, alleging he was dismissed for speaking out against illegal activity. Leffler’s included an associational retaliation theory under Title VII, tied to a cousin-in-law’s sex discrimination suit against the district.³

The 2020 Reorganization

The plaintiffs said the reorganization used to remove them was a pretext. In spring 2020, as the pandemic hit city finances, the mayor’s office asked MNPS to cut roughly $100 million. Dr. Battle, newly appointed director of schools, responded with a Central Office Reorganization that eliminated or restructured administrative positions. The board approved it on the consent agenda, with no floor discussion.⁸⁹

Meriwether and Cathey were notified on April 29, 2020, that their positions were being eliminated effective June 30, with formal written notice on May 4. Leffler was notified the same day. Hayes’s Director of School Choice position was eliminated and replaced by a new diversity and equity role. Under district policy, employees whose positions were cut could apply for other openings; failing that, they faced reassignment to classroom teaching or, for non-tenured staff, termination. Hayes was reassigned as a classroom teacher and took a pay cut of nearly $50,000. Meriwether, Cathey, and Leffler were later placed as principals.³

How the Case Reached Settlement

Hayes filed her suit in November 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, and the other plaintiffs’ cases were consolidated under case number 3:20-cv-01023.¹⁰ A district judge granted summary judgment to the defendants on several claims in 2023. On appeal, the Sixth Circuit partially reversed, letting key retaliation claims move toward trial.⁶

The appeals court found that a reasonable jury could conclude the district eliminated Hayes’s position in retaliation for her complaints about the slavery lesson and her Title VI filing. The court cited testimony that when Hayes’s name came up for another role after the reorganization, an HR manager said, “You have to be kidding me. She has a lawsuit against the district.”³

Two earlier mediations had failed. A third session on July 11, 2025, produced the deal, finalized just before the July 22 trial date.¹¹

What the Settlement Pays

The board approved the agreement 9-0 on the consent agenda. The $6.5 million is split evenly among the five plaintiffs at $1.3 million each. Plaintiffs’ damages come from the MNPS operational budget; attorneys’ fees come from the district’s self-insured liability fund. The payment covers lost wages, future economic damages, and other claims that exceeded the usual $300,000 statutory cap on damages.¹¹⁶

Brian Winfrey, lead trial counsel for the plaintiffs, told the Tennessean he had planned to ask a jury for $20 million and that he had “never secured a settlement from a public institution anywhere close to this before trial.”¹¹

What the District Says

MNPS did not admit wrongdoing. The district said in a statement it was “confident in the strength of our legal position” but that the complexity of the claims and “the uncertainty of a jury trial” made settling the most prudent course.⁸ Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz put it more directly at a later board meeting: “We came to the conclusion that Dr. Battle did nothing wrong. The obvious question is, why would we settle? It was a business decision.”¹² District spokesperson Sean Braisted said the settlement was mutual.¹³

Dr. Battle spoke publicly at a back-to-school event soon after. “The truth of the matter is, we still stand on the decisions that we made,” she said. “I think what you will see is that the results speak for themselves.”¹⁴

Backlash and Calls for Resignation

The payout drew sharp criticism. Metro Council Member Erin Evans said the amount “far exceeds the previous five years of settlements in aggregate” and came on the heels of “a really difficult budget cycle.”¹

The parent advocacy group Nashville P.R.O.P.E.L. called for Dr. Battle to resign. Executive Director Sonya Thomas said, “I am calling for Dr. Battle to step down. She is culpable. She leads this district.”¹³

An August 12 board meeting drew both critics and defenders. Parent Kindall Maupin asked why accountability was “optional” for district leaders. Kimberlee Moore said the money should have gone toward closing reading gaps.¹⁵ Former board members Sharon Gentry and Christiane Buggs used the public comment period to praise Dr. Battle; Gentry described the criticism as tied to an “agenda” to undermine public schools in favor of vouchers and charter schools.⁹ Board Chair Freda Player read a statement expressing full board support for the superintendent.

Where Things Stand

The lawsuit did not factor into Dr. Battle’s annual performance evaluation. Player said, “We usually do not put lawsuits into evaluations,” noting that the underlying events spanned several years, with some predating Battle’s tenure. The board’s 2024-25 evaluation focused on literacy, numeracy, social-emotional learning, and post-graduation transitions, and found she met district goals in all four.⁹

As of 2026, Dr. Battle remains superintendent of Metro Nashville Public Schools.¹⁶

An Earlier Retaliation Verdict Against MNPS

The Hayes case was not the district’s first retaliation loss. In December 2021, a federal jury awarded $260,000 to Dr. Euna McGruder, a former executive officer for priority schools fired in January 2016 after investigating discrimination at Madison Middle School. McGruder reported a hostile work environment and disproportionately harsh punishments for Black students, and was terminated shortly after presenting her findings. The jury ruled in her favor after a three-day trial, with back pay, front pay, and attorneys’ fees expected in addition to the verdict.¹⁷ The McGruder case involved a different superintendent and predated Dr. Battle’s tenure, but plaintiffs’ attorneys in Hayes pointed to it as part of a pattern.

1
WSMV. Metro Nashville Public School Board of Education Votes $6.5 Million Settlement
2
GovInfo. Hayes v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville, Case No. 3:20-cv-01023
3
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Hayes v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville, Nos. 23-5027/23-5075
4
USA Today. Nashville Lawsuit Over Schools Class Assignment on Slavery
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NBC News. Make a Slave Lesson Lawsuit Dismissed in Tennessee
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Nashville Banner. MNPS Settlement Nashville Administrators Retaliation
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Yahoo News. MNPS Board Approves Large Settlement
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WKRN. MNPS Settlement
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Nashville Banner. MNPS Board Evaluates Dr. Adrienne Battle
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CaseMine. Hayes v. Metro. Gov’t of Nashville and Davidson Cnty.
11
Tennessean. Nashville Schools to Pay $6.5M in Lawsuit
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Fox 17. MNPS $6.5M Payout Raises Questions
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WSMV. Parent Group Calls for Metro Schools Superintendent to Resign Following $6.5M Lawsuit Settlement
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Fox 17. Metro Nashville Superintendent Breaks Silence on $6.5 Million Settlement
15
TN Firefly. Metro Nashville Public Schools Superintendent Faces Criticism and Support at Board Meeting
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MNPS. Nashville Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle Named Mid-Cumberland Superintendent of the Year
17
Tennessean. Federal Jury Awards $260K to Fired Metro Schools Administrator