San Antonio – from www.mysanantonio.com – Three former teachers at a Uvalde charter school are suing their former employer, claiming they were fired after complaining about on-campus sex toy parties.

Deanna Allen, Janice Mireles and Rosalinda Padilla, who taught high school and junior high-level classes at the small Gabriel Tafolla Academy, are seeking damages for alleged loss of income, mental anguish and damage to their reputations.

In a lawsuit filed in Bexar County last week, the teachers said they were fired by the Community Council of Southwest Texas Inc., which operates the school, after stories about the alleged parties ran in La Voz de Uvalde and on a local TV newscast.

In a June 28 report, KENS 5 cited three anonymous teachers who complained that Principal Deanna Kilpatrick participated in the parties and kept some of the items she purchased in her office. Although the teacher who sold the items through Sensual Play Things did not have her contract renewed, Kilpatrick was promoted to superintendent, the anonymous teachers were reported to have said.

The charter school employed only 14 teachers at the time, according to its website. The suit does not specify that the three plaintiffs were the anonymous sources, but it does claim their First Amendment rights were violated.

“The handling (or mishandling) of the complaints regarding the sex toy parties on school premises was clearly a matter of public concern … ” San Antonio attorney Edward Piña wrote in the lawsuit petition.

Piña described the terminations, which occurred after one of the school’s two campuses closed because of low enrollment, as “unlawful, oppressive and unconstitutional.”

The attorney did not return a call seeking comment Monday afternoon. Richard Juarez, executive director of Community Council of Southwest Texas, also could not be reached for comment.

Kilpatrick said Monday that she had no idea a suit had been filed. She wasn’t familiar with any allegations regarding sex toy parties, she said.

KENS 5 quoted her in June, however, as stating the party complaints were “exaggerated.” She did see sexual material once but it was after hours, she said, according to the station.