MCEA Rally: Staff at Kemp Mill ES have been dismayed to see a bullying and ineffective principal turn their school into a place with one of the worst school climates in the county.

MCEA Rally Announcement:

Join parents, community members, and the Montgomery County Education Association at a rally at the MCPS Central Office to demand justice for the students and families at Kemp Mill Elementary School.

Kemp Mill has one of the highest percentages of children from low-income families in Montgomery County. It needs and deserves strong leadership. But for the past three years, educators there have been dismayed to see a bullying and ineffective principal turn their school into a place with one of the worst school climates in the county. 

The dedicated educators, paraeducators, and building service staff at Kemp Mill work every day to provide their underserved student population with the quality school community they deserve. After numerous attempts to raise these urgent concerns with the school district, we still have had no adequate response from MCPS. The Montgomery County educators' union will not stand idly by as MCPS does a terrible disservice to one of our high needs schools.

School’s out, but we’re just getting started! An injury to one is an injury to all, and only by coming together can we hold MCPS accountable to students, parents, and fellow educators. 

Superintendent Jack Smith continually says that “all means all,” but he needs to put action behind his words. Our most vulnerable students are suffering from his neglect. We must stand together to demand equity now. Join us at the rally to fight for the change that’s needed at Kemp Mill ES to improve the lives of our kids and our colleagues!

Schools confront bullying of teachers, staff

...Legal documents show the policy on workplace bullying arrives nearly 2.5 years after three elementary school teachers and one staff member settled a lawsuit against their school principal.

“I think it’s just a way to help address the way, how we are creating the best workplace possible for our employees,” said Barclay.

Barclay said the regulations will determine how Montgomery County Public Schools staff will address bullying.

“The policy is going to be the aspiration,” he said. “It’s going to be the regulation that will matter in terms of what ultimately will be the practice, and we have to see what systems are put in place.”   

The case was filed for reasons including “negligence, gross negligence and intentionally seeking to inflict harm upon any subordinate who dared to question his unchecked authority.”

Plaintiffs alleged Starnes tried to sully their names by “falsifying the teachers’ personnel files.”

A plaintiff who asked not to be named, said bullying is a problem in Montgomery County.

“I’m very uncomfortable in this county,” the person said. “We were the teachers trying to protect the children from the principal.”

...

Starnes continued to act as principal for two years after the case was settled.

...

Barclay said he could not talk about whether or not the suit and the policy were related.

Joan Kaltreider, retired teacher elementary classroom teacher from Kemp Mill Elementary School and a plaintiff from the case, said she would support the policy.

“If it’s a policy to protect teachers, I’d be highly in favor of it, but I’d be highly skeptical that it would be enforced,” said Kaltreider.

According to the law documents, Kaltreider received a negative recommendation from Starnes, and was later put on probation, after she reported to her union representative her concerns about her principal.

Kaltrieder said the negative recommendation was retaliation for talking about her principal.

She reasoned while she received positive recommendations during her previous 30 years of teaching and when the principal first arrived, her teaching was being scrutinized.

  http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/newsx/local/item/2714-schools-confront-bullying-of-teachers-staff

Teachers at Kemp Mill settle

...By law the Board of Education must approve all payments greater than $25,000, but Patricia Via, chief for the county’s division of litigation which represented Starnes and the school system, said there is no requirement for the money agreed to in the settlement to go before the Board of Education for a vote of approval because the Board carries comprehensive liability insurance to protect itself and employees, as required by state law.
“Under that statute, the BOE is self-insured up to $100,000 per occurrence,” Via said. “The Board participates in the Montgomery County Self-Insurance Program and any settlements or judgments are paid through the Self-Insurance Program within the Board’s self-insurance limits.”
An occurrence, Via said, does not refer to the number of plaintiffs. In this case, she said, there was one occurrence and the maximum amount offered in a settlement would be $100,000...

article continues at this link  The Sentinel

Montgomery settles with group of teachers who sued Kemp Mill principal

Montgomery County officials have reached an out-of-court settlement with six former employees at Kemp Mill Elementary School who accused their one-time principal of misconduct and retaliation.

The settlement, which came just days before a trial was scheduled to begin Monday, puts an end to a civil lawsuit that, according to court documents, included allegations that the principal escorted unruly children into a closet-size room to calm them down and subjected staff members to unwanted touching, verbal abuse and harassment.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/montgomery-settles-with-group-of-teachers-who-sued-kemp-mill-principal/2013/05/10/75e79a18-b8d5-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html?hpid=z3