CANFIELD — The former Canfield schools superintendent filed a lawsuit Thursday against the city’s police chief, police department and the city, alleging defamation.

Alex Geordan is seeking $250,000 in compensatory damages, and $500,000 in punitive damages.

He alleges police Chief Chuck Colucci and the Canfield Police Department defamed him “with statements relating to what Colucci has publicly stated were lies and untruths told by Geordan,” David Engler, attorney for Geordan, said in a news release.

The purpose of the defamation, Engler stated, was to force Geordan out of his position as schools superintendent.

“Colucci’s intent is to give the Canfield Police Department the principal and primary power and authority in handling school disciplinary issues,” the release states. “Geordan resisted Colucci’s efforts to infringe upon school authority. Colucci, with the (police) department’s approval, mounted an attack on Geordan’s job,” which succeeded.

Colucci, contacted by The Vindicator, had no comment.

In December, Geordan resigned as superintendent with three-and-a-half years left on his contract after it was reported that he did not report violent threats made by a Canfield Village Middle School student in September.

Then in November, the police department provided details of 22 incidents dating back to 2012, claiming the district administration had a history of failing to report serious threats and other significant incidents to law enforcement.

According to the lawsuit, Colucci provided local media with a document titled “Summary of Criminal Investigation” in November, where he “made several untrue, inaccurate, and derogatory statements about Geordan.”

The lawsuit alleges that Colucci said Geordan made “deceptive statements” about school-related incidents, Geordan misrepresented facts in an all-call made to parents in September 2019, and that he “purposefully misled the community.”

The lawsuit also states that Colucci made the statements about Geordan, knowing they were untrue “and refused to take any steps whatsoever to verify the statements made in the Nov. 18, 2019, document.”

Geordan’s lawsuit states that he “suffered economic damage and sustained mental and psychological injury. Both the economic damage and mental and psychological injuries that Geordan has sustained as a direct and proximate result of the intentional defamation by Colucci can be reasonably expected to continue into the future.”

As long as he doesn’t get another job right away, the agreement Geordan reached with the school district will allow him to receive his full salary through the end of this month. That’s because he was to continue to work off-site as “special assistant for transition” with an interim superintendent in place as a new superintendent is sought.

But he also is eligible to receive his full salary as long as he is not actively employed, through Jan. 31, 2022.

Geordan earns $116,792 per year, according to the Ohio Treasurer’s office website.

Following Geordan’s resignation, John Tullio served as interim superintendent, with the board of education selecting Joseph Knoll as the new district leader in May.

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