A federal lawsuit brought by a Roanoke County supervisor against three members of the county school board was dismissed by the court this week.
The suit, filed by Martha Hooker, accused school board members Tim Greenway and Brent Hudson, as well as former board member Cheryl Facciani, of pushing for her to be fired from her part-time job with the school division.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Roanoke in 2023 and was dismissed Tuesday at the request of both sides, according to court records.
Hooker began working part-time as a work-based learning coordinator for Roanoke County schools in 2021. She was fired in May 2023.
Hooker argued in the lawsuit that the three board members pushed to fire her in retaliation for the way she had voted as a county supervisor on funding several major school renovation and construction projects.
The school board did not vote on the status of Hooker’s employment, but Hooker, who still serves on the board of supervisors, claimed that after she was let go, her former supervisor and Superintendent Ken Nicely both indicated that the school board had wanted her fired.
In October 2024, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Dillon denied the school division’s request to dismiss the lawsuit and allowed the case to advance to discovery. In March of this year, she heard additional arguments on a second motion to dismiss the case.
Roanoke County Public Schools officials said in a statement released Thursday that the dismissal was initiated by Hooker, “who chose to withdraw and forever relinquish her claims against us rather than to continue pursuing them.”
“This outcome is not surprising. From the time Ms. Hooker initiated her lawsuit against us in November 2023, we have consistently maintained that her claims were completely without merit,” the statement said. “We remain confident that had this matter proceeded to trial, each of the individuals named in Ms. Hooker’s lawsuit would have prevailed as a matter of law. Nonetheless, we consented to the dismissal in order to quickly obtain the same result we expected at trial: a clear, final resolution in our favor. Now that the matter has permanently concluded, all parties may move forward without any further distraction or uncertainty.”
Hooker could not be reached for comment. Her lawyer, Tommy Strelka, did not return a message left Friday.
