Former teachers union president sues 4J, alleging sex discrimination, harassment

The former president of the Eugene teachers union is suing Eugene School District 4J for failing to address rumors about her relationship with former superintendent Andy Dey.

According to the lawsuit, district employees spread inaccurate information about Sabrina Gordon having a sexual relationship with Dey while he was still the 4J superintendent, and the rumors have not stopped since he left in 2024.

Gordon is accusing 4J of sex discrimination — male employees who had close working relationships with Dey were not similarly targeted — and sexual harassment due to inaction about the rumors and her subsequent complaints about the employee who was spreading them. She also claims the district’s inaction forced her to resign.

Gordon filed the lawsuit Nov. 6, but the events of the case date back to 2024. The lawsuit asks the district to give Gordon $702,646 for lost wages, emotional harm and legal fees.

When Lookout Eugene-Springfield reached out to 4J about the case, Kelly McIver, director of communications and intergovernmental relations at 4J, said the district does not comment on ongoing litigation. Gordon’s attorney could not immediately be reached.

What is being alleged?

The lawsuit tells Gordon’s story about how she became the target of rumors and what happened after, but it does not name the district employee who allegedly started the rumor.

According to the 14-page court document, an unnamed district employee filed a formal complaint with the district in 2023 against Dey, alleging race and gender discrimination. The same employee, who is identified as female, confronted Gordon in February 2024 about having a sexual relationship with Dey.

Gordon denied the claim, but the lawsuit says that employee told other staff, administrators and school board members about the rumored sexual relationship anyway.

Despite Dey’s separation from the district in March 2024, Gordon says the rumors kept circulating.

On Oct. 2, 2024, Gordon says a man asked her to step down from her position as president of the Eugene Education Association and threatened to send the allegations of her sexual relationship with Dey to the media.

Gordon filed a sexual harassment complaint with the district Nov. 12, 2024, due to the rumors. On Feb. 4, the district ruled the rumors, and staff’s failure to report the rumors to administrators, were not a violation of the district’s sexual harassment policies. Gordon filed an appeal a week later, but the lawsuit claims she did not receive a response.

The lawsuit states that the district later hired the man who had made the threat to send information to the media, despite being aware of the threat to Gordon.

Gordon quit her job in July citing “constructive discharge,” which implies the district effectively forced her out of the position. The lawsuit accuses the district of creating a “hostile, offensive and intimidating work environment on the basis of (Gordon’s) sex and sexual harassment.”

“(Gordon) felt intimidated, humiliated and embarrassed by a severe or pervasive hostile work and school environment, which significantly interfered with her ability to effectively carry out her work duties and diminished her credibility and relationships with District staff, leadership and the Board,” the lawsuit states.

Gordon is represented in the case by Portland-based employment-discrimination lawyer Diane Sykes.

A controversial past 4J leader

While Dey is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, the rumors about a relationship with Gordon reportedly started when he was still superintendent.

Dey’s hiring as superintendent was controversial from the start. The school board hired him on a 4-3 vote in 2022 after KEZI reported several letters had been sent to the 4J board alleging Dey had bullied other administrators.

In January 2024, Eugene Weekly reported Dey was being investigated for discrimination and retaliation against a school employee. The Weekly subsequently reported Dey had kissed a female South Eugene High School teacher on her cheek without her consent in February 2024. 

Only two members of the school board that hired Dey in 2022 were still on the board in March 2024 when it voted to “mutually separate” from Dey, according to KLCC.

Dey left the district at the end of June 2024, and Colt Gill, a retired state education official, was the interim superintendent until Miriam Mickelson, the current superintendent, started July 1, 2025.

Dey held several jobs within the district. He had previously been the district’s director of secondary education, and principal of South Eugene High School from 2015 to 2018, among other roles.