An age discrimination suit filed by a 70-year-old former Los Angeles Unified music teacher should be dismissed, the district’s attorneys contend in new court papers, while stating that the plaintiff once said in her classroom that it smelled “like a French whorehouse.”
Wendy Sarnoff’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges discrimination, failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation. She says she was denied needed training and ultimately forced to resign in 2023 from her job at Venice High School because of harassment due to her age, which she says included an administrator questioning when she was going to retire.
But in court papers filed Wednesday with Judge Cherol Nellon in advance of a Feb. 24 hearing, LAUSD lawyers said Sarnoff once said in her class that it smelled “like a French whorehouse” and another time told students, “If you can’t sing `The Star Spangled Banner’ you should die.”
Sarnoff often called students by such derogatory terms as “stupid,” “idiot” and “not bright,” the district’s lawyers further state. In October 2023, the school principal gave Sarnoff a written statement of a possible issuance of a notice of unsatisfactory act with suspension based on the results of Venice High’s investigations, according to the LAUSD attorneys’ pleadings.
However, no discipline occurred because Sarnoff resigned and retired, the district’s lawyers further state.
Sarnoff was hired in 1991 and began teaching at Venice High School two years later. She was the school’s music department chairwoman at the time of her resignation. She also taught students, managed instruments and acted as the choral groups’ choir director. VHS participated in national competition under her guidance.
However, the work atmosphere for Sarnoff changed when a vice principal became her supervisor and failed to provide the plaintiff training on a new student evaluation system with programs different from before, the suit filed in October 2024 states.
The vice principal allegedly made various ageist remarks to Sarnoff, including asking, “Why don’t you leave already?” and various inquiries about when she may be planning to retire, the suit alleges.
Sarnoff, frustrated with the alleged age discrimination, quit her job due to her work environment and no one in the district asked her to elaborate, according to the suit.