Kemp Mill Elementary School Dispute Settled Out of Court

Montgomery County has settled out of court with a group of teachers who brought a lawsuit against the county's board of education and Floyd Starnes, the principal at Kemp Mill Elementary School since 2007, The Washington Post reported.

The former school employees accused Starnes of "unabated and outrageous bullying behavior directed toward the Kemp Mill teachers, as well as the administrative and custodial staff," according to the lawsuit.

Both sides signed a confidentiality agreement preventing them from disclosing the terms of the settlement, The Washington Post reported.

When the suit was filed in March 2012, MCPS released this statement:

“It is unfortunate that a group of people is using the media to make accusations—thus far proven to be overwhelmingly false and erroneous—against the principal of Kemp Mill Elementary School. 

“These allegations have been raised by some of the same employees in the past and have been the subject of proceedings at various levels, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In each one of these proceedings to date, these allegations were found to have little or no merit, and the EEOC did not move forward with any of the complaints.”

According to court filings, morale among staff members at the school had been affected. In an MCPS survey the year before Starnes arrived, 100 percent of the Kemp Mill staff said they would recommend the school as a good place to work, according to the lawsuit. One year later, this dropped to 32.5 percent, and by the 2010-2011 school year, it was at 9.8 percent.

Read more at The Washington Post.

What's your take on the situation? Do your kids go to Kemp Mill Elementary School? If not, would you feel comfortable sending them there, given the controversy?

Related links on Patch:

• Teacher Firing Affirmed by Maryland School Board
• Open House at Kemp Mill Starts with Protests