A former special education teacher has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale School District claiming she lost her job because she reported that she had too many students in her classes, which is a violation of state law.

According to the lawsuit, Janna Todd was hired as a special education teacher at Skyview Elementary School for the 2015-16 school year.

When school started Sept. 8, 2015, Todd said she realized several of her classes had eight students and one class had 11 students. According to state law, a Federal Setting III Special Education Classroom – which is what her class was – should not have more than three students without a classroom paraprofessional and should not have more than six students with a paraprofessional.

Todd spoke with the school principal, Joe Slavin, and said she worried about keeping all of the students safe because there were so many of them in the class. She said the number of students in her class needed to change right away, according to the lawsuit.

The next day, the number of students in Todd’s classes hadn’t changed. She again spoke with Slavin and shared her concerns, saying the number of students in her classes needed to be changed or she wouldn’t feel safe continuing in her current position, according to the lawsuit.

The day after that, Slavin emailed Todd and said he needed a written letter of resignation, according to the lawsuit. Todd then met with Special Education Supervisor Julie Koehler and said she didn’t want to quit her job but that she was worried her teaching license and the safety of the students could both be in jeopardy.

Todd also spoke with Director of Student Services Cory McIntyre that day about her concerns, and she said he responded by saying the position wasn’t “working out.” He said that she would need to give him a written resignation and that if she didn’t, she would be forced to resign, according to the lawsuit. Todd also claims he said, “This is a bridge you don’t want to burn.”

Todd sent her written resignation to Slavin that same day.

In the lawsuit, Todd claims the school district retaliated against her because of her good-faith reports of violations of law. She is asking for back pay with interest, compensation, attorneys’ fees and punitive damages.

We reached out to the school district, and a spokeswoman said they cannot comment on the lawsuit because of data privacy requirements.