A Howard County teacher's racial harassment lawsuit against the school system came to a close last week as officials dropped their appeal and reached a deal with the teacher over damages a jury awarded her last summer.

Michelle Maupin, who was awarded nearly $254,000 in the case in which school leaders were found responsible for creating a "race-based hostile work environment" at Centennial High School, said the case's closure gives her "a great deal of satisfaction."

School officials, who had hoped to exonerate the employees named in the suit, expressed disappointment in the settlement, saying the decision to drop the appeal and settle was made by their insurance company.

The school board is insured through the Maryland Association of Boards of Education Liability Insurance Pool, whose Board of Trustees determined that a settlement should be sought to resolve the case, schools attorney Mark Blom said.

"We didn't have any control over it," Blom said. "They supply all the money, so they get to decide when to settle a case and when to pursue litigation."

John O'Donoghue, manager of MABE's claim unit, said his organization does not comment on claims involving litigation or the terms of settlement.

Maupin, who now teaches at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, said the settlement affirms a jury's July 2007 finding that she had been mistreated.

"What I was most concerned about was maintaining the jury's verdict," she said, adding that taking her claims to court has been stressful and humiliating. "I've been accused of not telling the truth, sent to a psychologist for evaluation. It's really discouraging as a teacher to have to deal with things like that."

Jury ruled last summer

The case began in 2005, when Maupin, who then was an English teacher at Centennial, sued the Board of Education and her supervisors, alleging that she had experienced racial harassment at the Ellicott City school.

Maupin, who is black, accused former Centennial principal Lynda Mitic and English teacher Margaret Polek, both of whom are white, of making racist comments and harassing her.

She also accused school officials, including current Centennial principal Scott Pfeifer, of ignoring her complaints.

School officials denied the accusations.

During a trial last summer, a jury found that Maupin had been subjected to a "race-based hostile work environment."

The jury awarded Maupin $237,000 in compensatory and punitive damages to be paid mostly by the board and in lesser amounts by Mitic, Polek and Pfeifer.

Circuit Court Judge Lenore Gelfman later reduced the amount of damages by $62,000 because the jury improperly awarded Maupin duplicate damages under both state and federal discrimination statutes.

Following the adjustment, the board was ordered to pay $120,000 in compensatory damages and $45,000 in punitive damages, while Mitic was to pay $4,000, Polek $5,000 and Pfeifer $1,000.

School officials requested that Gelfman overturn the verdict in August 2007, calling it unreasonable. When Gelfman rejected the request, officials appealed the case to the Court of Special Appeals in December 2007.

Appeal is dropped

Ultimately, officials dropped the appeal this spring and on April 22 reached a settlement with Maupin, under which the jury's July 2007 verdict would stand, but certain damages would be altered.

The settlement, called a consent judgment, was granted by Gelfman April 25 and the damages paid at the clerk's office April 30.

Under the settlement, the judgments against Mitic, Pfeifer, and Polek were reduced to $1 each and the judgment against the school board for punitive damages was reduced from $45,000 to $32,500.

In all, the school system paid Maupin $253,979, which includes $120,003 in compensatory damages, $32,500 in punitive damages, and $101,476 in attorney's fees.

The board's insurance company will pay the compensatory and punitive damages, but the board must pay the attorneys fees and other costs, Blom said.

Maupin agreed to reducing the damages incurred by Mitic, Polek and Pfeifer to $1 as a matter of principle, said Dawn V. Martin, an attorney who has assisted Maupin in the settlement.

"It wasn't going to come out of their pockets anyway and money was never the motive," she said.

School board chairman Frank Aquino said he felt the reduction of damages against the individuals was ''very telling with respect to their involvement in the matter and their culpability."

''Finality generally comes at a price," Aquino said. ''In hindsight, it's good that it's resolved and it's time to move on."

Superintendent Sydney Cousin referred questions about the settlement to Blom.

Officials were disappointed in the settlement because they had set as "a prime objective" attempting to exonerate Mitic, Polek and Pfeifer in the appeal, Blom said.

"We fought hard for that," he said. "We think the verdict against them is totally without merit and is a gross injustice because it leaves them with a personal record for something ... they had no involvement in. They certainly didn't do anything improper."

Mitic did not return a telephone call seeking comment. Polek and Pfeifer declined to comment.

E-mail Jennifer Broadwater at jbroadwater@patuxent.com.

---

user comments (0)