Then-Airman 1st Class Michael McCullough poses on the Ground Instructional Training Aircraft ramp at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, Sept. 28, 2021. McCullough was barred from his elementary school band job after a deployment, and the U.S. Department of Justice is suing the school district in Oklahoma where he worked. (U.S. Air Force photo by John Ingle; Inset photo from McCullough — more than 20 years ago — via the U.S. Air Force)
The U.S. Justice Department is suing an Oklahoma school district accused of barring an Air Force Reserve airman deployed for military service from resuming his job as an elementary school band teacher.
The lawsuit alleges that Oklahoma Public Schools violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) when it failed to reinstate Michael J. McCullough in a teacher position upon his return from a military deployment, prosecutors announced in a news release.
“We owe a solemn duty to protect the rights of our service members when called upon to defend our nation. This lawsuit reinforces the Justice Department’s strong commitment to protecting the rights of those who wear the uniform proudly,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “USERRA provides important re-employment protections, and we must act when any employer denies them an opportunity to earn a living because they are called to duty.”
U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester for the Western District of Oklahoma said, “service members are called to leave their home and work to serve and protect us.”
“It is our job to make sure their employment rights are protected once they return home,” he added. “My office will continue to vigorously defend the rights justly earned by those who serve our country.”
In a statement, Oklahoma City Public Schools said it was reviewing the lawsuit and would “work through the legal process accordingly.”
“We cannot provide any further comment at this time,” the statement said.
According to the complaint, the ordeal began in February 2022 when McCullough, who taught at Fillmore Elementary School in Oklahoma City, “unexpectedly received written orders for military service beginning Monday, Feb. 14, 2022.”
After he told the school’s principal, Cindy Lang, about his impending military leave, Lang responded in an email, “I’m trying to wrap my mind around this and I’m very concerned. So I’m paying you all year and have to have a sub? It would make it so much easier to fill this with a music teacher if you resign. But this is your choice.”
During his deployment, the school district informed him that his 2022-2023 school year contract would not be renewed.
When McCullough learned his military orders had been extended through Dec. 30, 2022, he contacted the school district to let them know he could return to work after the Christmas break.
“Thank you for sending this information, however, your employment with OKCPS ended on July 15, 2022, at the end of your 2021-2022 contract,” Dana Leach, the director of Human Resources, responded in an email, court documents said.
He asked about other open positions elsewhere and even interviewed for an open band teacher spot but didn’t get the job. The lawsuit alleges the district had other open band teacher jobs where he could have returned after his military service ended.
On Dec. 13, 2022, he filed a complaint through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS), which prompted the DOJ’s lawsuit seeking lost wages, employment benefits and other remedies. It wasn’t the first such complaint McCullough lodged with VETS. While he was working at another school in 2021 and was called to military training, his contract was not renewed.
In 2022, McCullough was profiled in an Air Force news release — “Airman’s 20-year path to service epitome of resilience.”
It promoted his commitment and focus and lauded his perseverance in overcoming challenges such as fighting weight issues — losing more than 200 pounds — being a single parent and battling a serious medical condition.
It touted the senior airman, then an avionics airman with the 513th Maintenance Squadron at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, as “an example of that dogged mentality and his desire to don the Air Force blue and serve his country.”
“The ‘nevers’ and ‘always’ and ‘give ups’ were echoed a lot from other people,” he said in the news release, adding that some people added the “obligatory comment that at least he had tried.”
“I’m sorry, but I just don’t think that’s good enough,” added McCullough, a music major in college who joined the military after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S. “You can’t just stop because something gets hard or something is impossible. If it’s right and something that’s meaningful and you can make a difference doing it, then you’ve got to just keep going.”
McCullough, then the band director at Capitol Hill Middle School, said he teaches his students about being resilient.
“My whole life, I take those struggles and obstacles and change them into opportunities,” he said. “As a teacher, that’s what I teach my students because we’re always going to have those struggles.”
“But they don’t have to be struggles,” he continued. “You can use them as a platform to go someplace.”
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