The former director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for Middletown public schools filed a lawsuit in 2025 against the Middletown Board of Education alleging she was discriminated against, subjected to racial stereotypes by administration, and then terminated in violation of her contract, according to the court complaint.
Jada Waters, who worked for the school system between 2021 and 2024, is alleging discrimination based on race and retaliation after she claims her concerns over the hiring of an “unqualified” white male candidate as the human resources manager were ignored, and that the new manager subsequently engaged in “microaggressions,” and “racial insensitivity” toward her.
Waters claims she was ignored and dismissed when she raised her concerns of racial insensitivity to former Middletown Superintendent Alberto Vazquez Matos, who was terminated in 2025 following a DUI arrest in Florida.
Waters also cites an incident during which she served on the hiring committee to find a new teachers to fill eight open Pre-K 4 teaching positions. When only “seven internal white candidates” applied she “recommended declaring a failed search due to insufficiently qualified candidates and raised concerns over the problematic comments made concerning diversity from some of the potential (unqualified) candidates who stated that they ‘did not see color,’ and were opposed to the Pre-K 4 model,” according to the court complaint, spurring disagreement between her and the assistant superintendent, and her concerns were not addressed.
“Despite Plaintiff’s expressed concerns regarding diversity and equity associated with these white candidates, MPSD hired them,” the complaint states.
Waters also states that part of her hiring contract required her to obtain a Certification of Administration and Supervision as soon as possible, which, according to the Connecticut State Board of Education, is required for an individual to work as a school administrator.
Waters, however, states that the certification was not required for her role and says she made numerous efforts to obtain the certification, eventually having to take an equivalent test in Massachusetts. However, she was terminated in August before confirmation that she had passed the Massachusetts test.
Despite having paid union dues since her hiring, Waters found herself without union representation because she didn’t have the certification and therefore wasn’t considered part of the administrator’s bargaining unit.
Waters claims that other administrative hires were given more leniency in obtaining the certification or had job requirements altered to hire them.
In their motion to strike, the Middletown BOE argued Waters couldn’t claim discrimination or retaliation because she never obtained the required certification, so her termination was “required by law.”
“Plaintiff’s Complaint makes clear that the State determined she did not possess the mandatory certification required to serve in her position,” attorney Amanda J. Blake. “Even when viewing her complaint in the light most favorable to Plaintiff, she cannot show a causal connection between her protected activity and her termination. The cause of her termination was that she was not legally able to hold her position.”
Judge Rupal Shah, however, denied the motion to strike and the lawsuit is moving forward, although the City of Middletown has been removed as a defendant.
More recently, Bobbye Knoll Peterson, former chief of staff to Middletown Mayor Benjamin Florsheim and interim director of at least two different city agencies, filed a complaint with Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) alleging she was discriminated against on the basis of sex when the city council declined to appoint her as director of one of those department.
Peterson claims that she was “denied the pay, permanence, and security afforded to similarly situated male employees,” because of her opposition to the nomination of a Republican to serve on an anti-racism task force and an LGBTQ Commission.
Interestingly, Waters claims that when she asked former Superintendent Vazquez Matos to present her DEI initiatives to the Middletown Board of Education he brushed her off, allegedly claiming they “were white Republicans and therefore unlikely to be receptive to the communication of DEI information.”
Waters received a release of jurisdiction from the CHRO in September 2025 and is seeking lost wages and benefits; non-economic damages for “emotional distress, harm to reputation, and loss of enjoyment of life’s activities;” punitive damages; attorney fees and “interest for money wrongfully withheld.”
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