Two decorated Army veterans who taught Junior ROTC at South Atlanta High School filed a multi-million-dollar civil rights lawsuit today against Atlanta Public Schools, alleging the district retaliated against them for filing charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
First Sergeant (Ret.) Dave W. O’Garro and Captain (Ret.) Maurice Bonner filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, Case No. 1:26-cv-04777-AT-JSA. The suit is brought against the Atlanta Independent School System, which does business as Atlanta Public Schools, and also names South Atlanta High School Principal Phillip Braziel, Director of Army Instruction Dr. Mona Venning, and Deputy Director of Army Instruction Sergeant Major James Harris. The instructors are represented by civil rights attorney Arnold Lizana of the Law Offices of Arnold J. Lizana III, P.C.
According to the complaint, both instructors raised internal complaints about how discipline was administered in the JROTC program, and both filed charges with the EEOC in late September 2025. Two of Captain Bonner’s internal complaints were substantiated by the district’s own investigators, the lawsuit alleges, yet no corrective action followed.
The lawsuit alleges that after the instructors filed those EEOC charges, district officials retaliated by referring contested disciplinary allegations through the JROTC chain of command to the U.S. Army, setting in motion the process that would ultimately cost both men the Army credential required to teach Junior ROTC.
Those same allegations did not survive inside the district. On May 4, 2026, the district’s own Fair Dismissal tribunal rejected the allegations, and the district offered both instructors new contracts to resume working during the current academic year. According to the federal complaint, the district took no step to withdraw or correct the referral it had already sent to the U.S. Army Cadet Command. The complaint further alleges that when the USACC withdrew both instructors’ JROTC certifications on June 4, 2026, based on the same allegations rejected by the tribunal, the district moved to replace the instructors and claimed it had no hand in the career-ending result.
While the decertification decisions are currently under review by the Army, Atlanta Public Schools placed both men on administrative leave on July 15, 2026, and replaced them with new instructors.
“The district’s own fair dismissal tribunal heard these allegations and found them unproven,” said Lizana. “At that point Atlanta Public Schools could have told the Army the charges had not held up. It did not. Instead, the district allowed the process it initiated to run its course to the end of their JROTC careers.”
“No public employer should be able to accomplish through the Army what it could not accomplish through its own due process,” Lizana added. “We are asking a federal court to hold Atlanta Public Schools and its officials accountable.”
The complaint seeks reinstatement, back pay, front pay and compensatory damages, and demands a trial by jury.
CLICK HERE for a copy of the complaint.
