SILVER SPRING – Parents of students at Kemp Mill elementary school say they aren’t happy with the recent settlement of a lawsuit leveled against the school’s principal.
The embattled principal was accused in a lawsuit by six former teachers of targeting them by fabricating false personnel records because they reported to superiors that principal Floyd Starnes was taking children into closets for 30 minutes at a time, assaulting and inappropriately touching male teachers and violating federal and state laws by failing to provide adequate services to special education students.
One parent, who asked that her name not be used in order to maintain the privacy of her family, said she believes her son was a victim of bullying from other students at Kemp Mill and was abused at the school.
During the spring 2008 semester, when her son was in second grade, the parent said the school called to have her pick up her son. When she arrived at the school, staff told her that her son was taken into a closet because of behavioral issues. She said her son did not have a history of throwing temper tantrums, and when shown the damage to the walls caused by her son’s black boots, she told the staff she would have her son clean up the mess. She said Assistant Principal Cheryl Smith told her that her son was not allowed in the closet.“Already I thought something was up,” she said. “You put him in there and now he is not allowed in there?”
The mother said her son would not talk about what happened in the closet, and he never wore his black boots again. She said her son went into a deep depression, and she decided to apply to have her son transferred to another school. When the transfer was denied, her son “went insane.” He began telling his mother he wanted to hurt himself. At that point, the child began seeing a psychologist regularly...
continues at this link: The Sentinel
On Friday, Starnes announced he was leaving MCPS at the end of the school year. This was part of the settlement agreement with the six teachers last month. His brother-in-law just accepted a superintendent's position in DE. I hope for God's sake that Starnes doesn't try to sneak in there. His acts were of a criminal nature. He should be in jail.
ReplyDeleteThere was no announcement on Friday.
ReplyDeleteI agree with original poster. I loved how MCPS tried to justify taking young boys into closets as "school policy." Starnes' own administrative secretary certainly didn't think so. She sounded alarmed when she wrote the assistant state's attorney over two years ago.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.savekmes.org/civilsuit.shtml#OsburnLetter
I hope the children who were abused and the men who were groped and sexually harassed by this monster file the next multi-million dollar lawsuit against MCPS and this monster. And hopefully, there is no hush-money settlement this time around.
@ olneypara1988 - if you have first-hand knowledge of criminal acts then take it to the police/CPS for them to do an investigation.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise you are guilty of condoning the abuse. Or should I say alleged abuse.
CPS was called. Now what?
DeleteNow what, indeed?
DeleteDid they conduct an investigation? If not, why? If so, then what was the outcome?
By the lack of response, I take it that if there were an investigation CPS found nothing to substantiate the charges.
DeleteStop calling Starnes a criminal if you've got nothing to back it up. If you want to say he's a jerk as a boss and/or ineffective as a principal that's your opinion and you've a right to it. But calling him a criminal when he has not even been charged let alone been convicted is ugly and wrong.
Anonymous 06/04/13 9:19am and 1:07pm
A lot of similarities to this case and the Curl case. The swim coach bought the girl's silence for nearly thirty years for $150,000, he was allowed to move on and continue his career. Now he's in jail for seven years. MCPS and Mont County spent a fortune in this trial representing Starnes, bought off six teachers on the eve of a messy trial that would have exposed true perversion, allows him to resign without prejudice so he move on to another position and continue to brutalize young boys and terrified men.
ReplyDeletestarnes announced that he was leaving at a stand up staff meeting last week. He called the entire staff down to make the announcement. He said he was going to "pursue other things" and that he would not return to Kemp Mill.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Starnes and his husband will "pursue" adopting some more boys: http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/schoolid/390/articleid/92533/newspaperid/366/FATHERS_KNOW_BEST_An_exclusive_look_into_growing_up_with_gay_parents.aspx
DeleteHopefully those other things include prison time for the abuse of his closet victims.
DeleteThis is NOT true. There has been no announcement of him leaving.
DeleteThere was not a stand up staff up staff meeting where this was announced. He will be at KM in the fall.
DeleteNo! NOT TRUE. HE announced his departure to our entire staff. Whatever the politics, he did announce that he would not be back at Kemp Mill. The assistant principal, Colleen Johnson took off to vacation in the Bahamas. Yes, it's the busiest time of year and Colleen is in the Bahamas. This all happened right after the court case/settlement.
DeleteWell, here it is September and Mr Starnes is the principal of Kemp Mill! Guess we know now who was telling the truth. Our students love him.
Deleteeveen the ones in the closet?
DeleteStarnes is still at Kemp Mill, and there was no announcement to the staff about his leaving. He did call a stand up staff meeting last year to tell us that he was not leaving and that someone had falsely reported that he was. I can also confirm the fear and intimidation factor of teachers under this leadership (both Floyd and Colleen).
DeleteJerry Sandusky adopted six children too. Interesting parallels.
ReplyDeleteYes, Starnes did announce at his staff meeting that he would not be back at Kemp Mill. However, the Wash Post and other reporters called MCPS and MCPS denied that he would be leaving. So, who is telling the truth? Why would MCPS deny that he is leaving? More lawsuits in the works?
ReplyDeleteAgain... there was no meeting saying he is leaving. He does not have another job. If you lie about something like this what other lies are you telling.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think MCPS is not announcing Starnes' departure? They fear an onslaught of follow-up lawsuits now that an admission of guilt and settlement with the six teachers has occurred. Any smart DC lawyer worth his weight in salt should be and will be contacting Starnes' young closet victims, the men he fondled, the teachers he wrongfully terminated after falsifying records, etc.
ReplyDeleteAgain, there was a meeting where Starnes announced he is leaving and will not return to Kemp Mill. The majority of the staff attended the meeting and they ALL heard it. He probably should not have announced that he was leaving just 2 weeks after settlement but Starnes is not one to follow MCPS rules. MCPS, Bressler, Bowers must be pulling their hair out.
ReplyDeleteTeachers remain silent on settlement but Starnes can't keep his mouth shut!!! Starnes likes being the center of attention and wants a big going away party. He just refuses to slip away quietly. MCPS should get him out of that school before he does one more stupid or harmful thing. Poor children.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous June 6 at 11:55pm. You are the person being dishonest or at the very least ignorant about the meeting that did, in fact, occur. The staff was called to a stand up staff meeting and he told the teachers that he would not return to Kemp Mill and that he would "be exploring new options"
ReplyDeleteALL of the staff at the meeting heard his announcement. Talk to his staff about the meeting. Is the whole staff being dishonest? Why did he share this information with them? How can you explain this? Are you a parent or someone working for MCPS who is trying to make it appear that the principal is staying? There was a recent lawsuit involving this principal and it is obvious that MCPS does not want to appear guilty. The teachers who work with the Kemp Mill principal will tell you that Starnes does whatever he wants with complete disregard for his superiors or anyone else for that matter. I bet MCPS would like to put a muzzle on him!!
I have spoken with staff and all I have spoken with have said there was no meeting like you describe. "Exploring options" and having a job are two different things. You continue to spout things that are not accurate.
ReplyDeleteStarnes told the staff that he would not return to Kemp Mill. I don't know who you are talking to. Are you sure you spoke to staff at Kemp Mill in Silver Spring? Starnes did say that he would be exploring other options but he added that he would not return to Kemp Mill next school year. You must be from central office to have this much concern about Principal Starnes and what he shares with his staff. Certainly, Starnes' announcement makes MCPS look bad given he made his announcement of his departure just days after settlement took place with all of the teachers involved in the lawsuit.
ReplyDeleteI know what I have been told by KM staff (& no I don't work for central office) Guess we'll just have to wait and see. My understanding is that Starnes will be there next year.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Holden Wilen, and I am the reporter who wrote the story linked to this posting. If you have information about Starnes leaving and have been talking to staff members, please contact me and have the staff members you have been talking to contact me. I cannot report rumors, and if Starnes made this announcement then a staff member should have no problem talking to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's doubtful that any staff member will discuss Starnes' resignation. As long as he is still active in MCPS, he is dangerous. Wilen and the other media outlets will likely have to wait till this monster is safely out the door to report the known.
DeleteIt's doubtful that anyone not on the Flay Floyd Starnes bandwagon will speak to a reporter. Those who want him gone have been intimidating any dissenters into silence.
DeleteAgreed... Staff at KM support Starnes. Parents at KM support Starnes. Not coming out and talking doesn't mean they're scared of Starnes. Maybe it means they don't want to be involved in your nonsense. These claims are from ugly people after a good man. Settling out of court is NOT an admission of guilt.
DeleteStarnes protected our children by helping to show Dan Picca for what he really was! Thank GOD my child never ended up in Picca's classroom! Thank you Mr Starnes!
DeleteHow do you know?
ReplyDeletePrincipal makes a public announcement at a faculty member and not a single member of the staff is willing to confirm with a reporter. That is fear. That is intimidation.
DeleteThis settlement proved everything on www.savekmes.org
@ Holden Wilen if you really want to do the community a service how about calling Child Protective Services to ask whether anyone reported an allegation about Starnes and to inquire about the investigation? For all the ocmments about Starnes being a pervert I haven't seen anything to back it up.
ReplyDeleteMr. Wilen needs to secure the full discovery document and Starnes' deposition from the court house. CPS isn't going to reveal any reports on specific individuals.
ReplyDeleteThere was a reason the school system threw in their cards on the eve of the trial. After failing repeatedly to get this case thrown out, they coughed up big money and the assurance that Starnes would leave MCPS to close the deal and silence those teachers with a confidentiality agreement. The last thing MCPS wanted was a ten-day trial laying out the deviant deeds of this pervert principal.
You claim intimidation? How about it never happened... NO ANNOUNCEMENT. As of the last day of school Starnes will be at KM in the fall.
ReplyDelete