Montgomery County Schools to pay $9.7M in Damascus sex assault settlement

... "The Board Of Education has agreed to pay these four young men who were sexually assaulted at Damascus High School a total of $9.7 million dollars, and that appears to be appears to a record settlement in the State of Maryland," said attorney Timothy Maloney. 

In a statement to FOX 5, MCPS wrote that they have "taken extensive measures to prevent such incidents from happening in the future. This is protocol rooted in an increase in monitoring and oversight of all locker rooms across our school district." 

But the Parents Coalition of Montgomery County says they've had to fight for transparency. 

"We don’t see a system that says, whoa, whoa, we made a mistake, and now we have to be serious about this. No, in fact, we don’t see that at all. We see a repeat of the same pattern over and over," said Janis Zink Sartucci from the Parents Coalition of Montgomery County. 

The lawsuit was moved to federal court in February 2021. As part of this nearly $10 million settlement, MCPS continues to deny all liability. 

Montgomery County Schools to pay $9.7M in Damascus sex assault settlement (fox5dc.com)