At the Montgomery County Council's joint committee hearing yesterday on the Inspector General's report on the investigation of MCPS' promotion practices, one topic that came up was how MCPS has been known to remove principals and other staff from schools and place them in the MCPS human relations department.
Councilmember Luedtke's questioning gave the impression that MCPS just puts staff in HR as a bookkeeping formality and that the staff placed in human resources who are involved in controversial school matters are "just on the books."
Earlier in the hearing, Councilmember Sayles had asked about the status of the former Damascus High School principal and coach who were at the school during the time of the football locker room hazing and rape incidents.
MCPS administrator April L. Key, Chief, Human Resources and Development, responded to questioning that yes, the former Damascus High School principal and coach at the time of the hazing rape incidents were still employed by MCPS.
The former Damascus High School principal is hardly "just on the books," she is now an expert advisor to MCPS.
People assigned to HR that are "just on the books."
Sayles: "This past September MCPS was ordered to pay what was reported to be the largest settlement of its kind in the state. Nearly $10 million dollars to the four victims of the 2017 - 2018 football hazing sexual assault case at Damascus High School. Is the Coach and Principal still employed by MCPS, that was there during that time frame?
While we work to develop a full comprehensive plan, action in nine key areas will be initiated over the next 60 days and will be informed by: Communities of Practice: Panels of experts who will come together to recommend specific actions MCPS must take in the key areas listed below to form a comprehensive corrective action plan.
Families of four former JV football players had alleged schools ignored looming threats before the teens were assaulted with broomsticks in locker room
“Damascus High School put a winning football culture ahead of everything,” said Timothy Maloney, a lawyer for one of the former players and his family. “Discipline, locker room supervision and student safety all went out the window.”
Most of the money was paid on behalf of victims who were attacked in the junior varsity locker room in 2018, according to their attorneys. Those attacks led to criminal cases against four of their teammates of rape and attempted rape under Maryland laws covering nonconsensual acts involving the use of an object...
The federal litigation stemmed from locker-room sex assaults by junior varsity football players in Maryland
...“Plaintiffs have put forward evidence that a reasonable jury could conclude that reckless or callous indifference occurred here,” U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte said from the bench.
Attorneys for the families say that school officials knew of at least three, earlier sexual assaults inside Montgomery County high school locker rooms, including an alleged 2017 incident among Damascus football players involving a broomstick that has emerged as perhaps the most critical and contentious part of the litigation. The families also say school officials, partly motivated to protect the powerhouse football program, allowed a player to remain on the JV squad despite his history of violence and sexual harassment, and that they left the JV locker room unchecked for an hour every day between the end of classes and the start of practice...
