SEQUIM — The Sequim School District has agreed that former middle school teacher and Athletic Director Autumn St. George will receive $850,000 to withdraw her 2018 federal lawsuit over alleged discrimination involving her sexual orientation.
The settlement agreement and a school district investigative report critical of district staff were made public on Wednesday under public records requests by Peninsula Daily News and the Sequim Gazette.
School officials Thursday refused to comment on how much of the $850,000 in settlement funds would come directly from the school district and how much would be drawn from other sources, such as a statewide insurance pool.
As part of the settlement, St. George, a 41-year-old Port Angeles resident and a teacher for seven years, agreed to drop any further claims for damages from the district and three employees.
The settlement notice was filed March 14 in Western Federal District Court in Tacoma and the case dismissed March 15 by Judge Robert Bryan.
The employees named as defendants were middle school student counselor Catherine Shea, Principal Vincent Riccobene and Assistant Principal Rhonda Kromm, all of whom remain employed by the district.
The Sequim School Board accepted St. George’s resignation on Monday.
St. George agreed to drop all claims and lawsuits for damages “arising out of an interaction at Applebee’s in January 2015 and [the] allegedly inadequate response by the district to complaints made by Autumn St. George,” according to the settlement.
St. George said in her lawsuit that Kromm had placed a document in her personnel file accusing St. George of “pedophillic behavior” that St. George saw in 2017 that Kromm had said in 2016 would be removed.
“Defendants Shea, Riccobene and Kromm were primary instigators and perpetrators in the unlawful discrimination and retaliation against Plaintiff,” according to St. George’s lawsuit.
The district and the three individual defendants “expressly deny any and all liability whatsoever arising in connection with the above referenced matter,” according to the agreement.
Martha Norberg of Seabold Group Investigation Consulting Services of Seattle interviewed 23 people for her report, including 10 district staff including the defendants, three students and five parents. St. George was interviewed for six hours.
“Fellow staff members and the parents interviewed reported that Ms. St. George is respected as a teacher and coach, and that she cares for and connects well with her students,” Norberg said in her findings.
“No one expressed any concern about Ms. St. George’s sexuality or how it might affect her relationships with students.”
The interaction at Applebee’s restaurant in Sequim occurred at a school district staff party.
After learning that St. George had advertised on a on Match.com page for “women seeking women,” Shea assumed St. George was gay and suggested St. George ask a waitress there on a date, according to the school district’s investigative report.
Shea and St. George recalled the conversation, according to the report.
According to Shea’s interview with Norberg, “she said that Ms. St. George commented that the waitress was cute, and based on that and her knowledge of the same-sex dating ad, she made the comments about hooking her up with the waitress,” Norberg said.
St. George was “mortified” by Shea’s focus on her sexuality, she told a co-worker, according to the report.
She denied being a lesbian, according to Norberg’s report.
“She was seeking friends, seeking friendship” on the website, her lawyer, employment attorney Daniel Gallagher of Bainbridge Island said Thursday.
“Her sexuality is no one’s business at the district,” Gallagher said.
Shea discussed St. George’s sexuality with several co-workers, continually asking them if they thought St. George was gay and worried that she had “outed” her, including after telling St. George she would stop, Norberg said.
St. George said students had started asking her if she was gay.
After she went to Riccobene, then assistant principal, to file a grievance, Riccobene told her he would talk to Human Resources, but “by his own admission, he failed to do so,” Norberg said.
“He took Ms. Shea’s word that the matter was resolved rather than addressing Ms. St. George’s concerns.”
Subsequent school district investigations also failed to address those concerns, Norberg said.
Riccobene removed two students from St. George’s class, one for religious reasons and the other who said “vile, disturbing things about (Ms. St. George) Obama, the world,” without telling St. George.
“I’m protecting you,” St. George said Riccobene told her.
“Further, on two occasions, complaints about other issues turned, in part, into investigations which appeared to be attempts to prove that Ms. St. George was untruthful about her sexuality,” Norberg said.
“There is no evidence that this was caused by malicious intent, but rather the investigators misinterpreted Ms. St. George’s original complaint and felt it was necessary to prove she was gay,” Norberg said.
The discussion among school staff and students about St. George’s sexuality increased as Shea spoke with at least five staff members, feeling “terrible” about “outing,” as she said, “and to ask if they, too, thought Ms. St. George was gay,” Norberg said.
Shea told two staff members, “Doesn’t your gaydar go off”? Norberg said. There was no evidence that Shea had “malicious intent,” Norberg said.
The district conducted one internal investigation by Human Resources Manager Randy Hill in response to St. George’s complaint about questioning of a student by counselor Allison Hastings about what was potentially an allegedly inappropriate relationship with the student, Norberg said.
The student denied any inappropriate relationship, praised St. George as being “the only one I trust,” and filed a complaint about Hastings, who denied asking any inappropriate questions, Norberg said.
“The concerns of potential grooming activities and boundary invasion by Ms. St. George were addressed by placing a para-educator in Ms. St. George’s class,” Norberg said.
“They were not addressed by disproving the concerns.”’
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
