Ex-principal at Bradenton charter school sexually harassed teachers, lawsuit says

Three women have accused a former charter school principal of sexual harassment and discrimination in a lawsuit aimed at Manatee School of Arts and Sciences, a public charter school in Bradenton.

The former employees filed a lawsuit against the school and its ousted principal, Richard Ramsay, along with the school’s registrar, Linda Brand, and the president of its governing board, Jim Brand. The women are suing for damages totaling more than $15,000, charging Ramsay with abuse of power, and accusing the other school leaders of failing to take action against him.

None of the defendants returned a request for comment, nor did the law firm representing them.

The lawsuit included dozens of text messages and in-person statements allegedly made by Ramsay — most too vulgar to report in the Bradenton Herald.

“Who was the cute girl visiting your room today?” Ramsay reportedly said a message to Morgan Lane, one of the former employees.

Lane responded, calling Ramsay a “creeper” and asking how he knew about the interaction, to which he responded, “There’s a camera right above your door,” according to the lawsuit.

“She need a sugar daddy?” the suit continues, quoting Ramsay.

The employees accused Ramsay of attacking their self-esteem and pressuring them into uncomfortable situations. He dehumanized the women through “ridicule, belittling, and disrespect of personal boundaries,” according to the complaint.

“Any employee that attempted to challenge Ramsay’s wrongful conduct would be yelled at, deemed ‘defiant,’ given a more demanding workload, and held to higher and unrealistic expectations,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit was filed last June, and the next hearing was scheduled to take place on Thursday morning, but it was recently postponed. When the time comes, Judge Edward Nicholas will consider two motions to dismiss the case.

If the motions are any indication, the upcoming hearing will focus on whether there were legal grounds to pursue a lawsuit or damages, not whether the allegations are true.

For public employees to be sued for damages, there has to be proof they “acted out with actual malice” in the course of their job. The employees could also be sued if their actions amounted to “wanton and willful behavior greater than gross negligence,” according to one of the motions.

Regardless of whether the allegations are true, Ramsay’s alleged conduct would not make him liable for damages, the motion continued.

“Nowhere do Plaintiffs allege that Mr. Ramsay made physical contact with any of them,” it states. “While the Amended Complaint is replete with allegations of verbal abuse and inappropriate comments of a sexual nature made by Mr. Ramsay, taking all of the allegations as true, he never touched the Plaintiffs physically.”

Ex-principal made ‘unwanted sexual remarks,’ teachers say

Geena Gregory joined Manatee School of Arts and Sciences as a kindergarten teacher in August 2014.

In 2016, after he became principal, Ramsay began to sexually harass Gregory, making “unwanted sexual remarks concerning other teachers, students, students’ parents and Ms. Gregory’s friends,” the lawsuit states.

The complaint listed six examples, including allegations that Ramsay asked the teacher to “hook him up” with her friends, and that Ramsay made a comment about “his sexual encounters with students’ mothers.”

As the teacher liaison, Gregory received similar complaints from Lane, an employee at the school from August 2016 to May 2018. According to the lawsuit, Lane had a problem with the school principal before she was even hired.

After she interviewed for a teaching position, Ramsay allegedly messaged her on Facebook several times. According to the suit, Ramsay said he hoped for another interview so he could “gaze upon (her) beauty.” And when Lane complained about her current job, the principal responded with a question: what “corner are you working this afternoon?”

“Because of her financial situation and desire to return to teaching, Ms. Lane ultimately accepted the teaching position with MSAS and began as a kindergarten teacher on August 2, 2016, with the hope that Ramsay would cease his sexually provocative and inappropriate communications as she was now an employee,” the complaint states.

The messages continued after her employment, according to the lawsuit, which listed more than a dozen screenshots — apparent text messages between Ramsay and Lane.

“Just imagine what they’ll be doing later after seeing you lounging by the pool in your bathing suit,” a message reads.

“Shut up! They are like 8,” the conversation continues.

“And?” it concludes.

The examples captured Lane’s responses, including “gross” and “I don’t want to take part in this.” But the complaint also acknowledged that Lane sent inappropriate messages of her own, “in hopes that he may stop his controlling treatment of her.”

“Ms. Lane sent several other inappropriate messages over the course of November 2016 through January 2017; however, stopped sending them shortly thereafter because she could not stand for compromising her own morals and self-worth in an effort to appease Ramsay,” the complaint states.

Lane reportedly brought her concerns to Gregory, the teacher liaison, and she brought their collective issues to the school’s governing board in 2018. Soon after, the liaison witnessed Ramsay make concerning statements about a third teacher, according to the lawsuit.

Dao Tran worked at Manatee School of Arts and Sciences from January 2017 to March 2018. She was denied time off on several occasions, including the time she asked to observe Tet, a Vietnamese holiday, the complaint states.

“In the western culture, we do it differently,” Ramsay allegedly said in a conversation with other employees, discussing Tran’s request.

The principal got rid of all three of the teachers on various dates in 2018, according to the lawsuit, which accused Ramsay of using the threat of termination against teachers.

Over several messages to Lane, the principal said employees should fall in line or get fired, the complaint alleges. In one message, he reportedly said, “I’m the executioner sharpening his ax.”

“Too bad I can’t text you back (without) threats of being fired,” Lane said in another message.

“You’re never going to get fired for joking around. Arguing or talking back, now that’s a different story,” Ramsay reportedly said in his response.

School denies charge of retaliation

The school filed a response to the lawsuit in October, emphasizing that no retaliation took place.

“Any adverse employment action or decision taken by MSAS with respect to Plaintiffs was based on legitimate, non-discriminatory, non-retaliatory reasons,” the school said in its filing.

As of Wednesday morning, it seems Ramsay was no longer the principal for Manatee School of Arts and Sciences. The school website listed Clinton Jones as the principal.

In a meeting of the school’s governing board on Feb. 26, Ramsay announced that he would soon “adjust his career path and pursue” other opportunities, resigning by the year’s end, according to meeting minutes.

About three months later, the governing board discussed an incident between Ramsay, a gifted teacher and the school’s registrar, though the minutes provide no details on the incident. The board passed a motion to suspend Ramsay and appoint Jones as the acting principal.

“Mr. Ramsay was escorted off school premises and is taking the last 2 days as sick days,” the minutes state.

The two pending motions asked Judge Nicholas to dismiss a total of 12 counts in the lawsuit, including discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation and the infliction of emotional distress.

The former employees are represented by Barnes Walker, Goethe, Perron and Shea PLLC, a law firm with offices throughout Manatee County.

The defendants are represented by Cole, Scott and Kissane P.A., a law firm based in Tampa. In one motion, the attorneys addressed an accusation that Ramsay intentionally caused emotional distress.

According to their motion, the women would have to prove four things: that Ramsay acted recklessly or intentionally, that his conduct was “extreme and outrageous,” that his actions caused the emotional distress and that the distress was severe.

“To date, no Florida court has found that verbal abuse alone has been sufficient to establish that the conduct at issue was extreme and outrageous,” the motion states.

Their motion also accuses the former employees of failing to submit a pre-suit notice, which is required when suing state agencies, such as a public charter school, according to the motion.

“Plaintiffs failed to provide MSAS with any notice concerning the discriminatory conduct alleged in the Amended Complaint, thereby depriving MSAS of any opportunity to respond to or to remedy the alleged discrimination before Plaintiffs took outside action.”

A second motion focused on charges tied to the Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA) and the Florida Educational Equity Act (FEEA). Neither would allow the women to sue Ramsay as an individual, the attorneys argued.

“Even accepting all of Plaintiffs’ allegations about Mr. Ramsay as true, individual liability under the FCRA is not available in Florida as a matter of law,” the motion states.

Speaking on behalf of the school as a whole, the attorneys submitted a third document in response to the lawsuit, requesting a jury trial and defending Manatee School of Arts and Sciences.

The school denied having knowledge of discrimination or retaliation against its employees. Its response said that damages, if any, resulted from “the actions of Plaintiffs, third parties unknown to MSAS” or events beyond the school’s control.

“MSAS acted in good faith, with reasonable care, and without malice, malicious intent, or any negative, discriminatory, or retaliatory intent whatsoever,” the school concluded.

This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 10:40 AM.