KINGWOOD – A Preston County woman who operates a private school says agents of the county school board have made false and defamatory statements to dissuade potential students from transferring.
Kristine Ayers-Cline, the director and sole member of Laurel Academy LLC, filed her complaint in Preston Circuit Court against the Preston County Board of Education.
According to the complaint, Ayers-Cline has operated Laurel Academy for about three years. She says Laurel Academy is an alternative to public schooling “where certain children may not be able to thrive for a variety of reasons.”
The plaintiffs also say the county school board has consistently failed to provide students mandated services – such as those required under the Individuals with Disabilities Act – after they transfer to Laurel Academy.
“It is the right of the student and the private school to decline service, but they must be provided where needed and requested,” the complaint states. “The BOE has deliberately created red tape and obstacles to the Laurel Academy students either receiving mandated services or exercising the discretionary right to decline such services.”
They claim the board also has refused to provide all school records requested by release forms when a student transfers from public school to Laurel Academy. They list other “tortious, wrongful acts.
They say those acts include Preston High School staff falsely telling parents and students that a Laurel Academy diploma is illegitimate and worthless or that students are limited in post-secondary education options, agents trying to get students to sign dropout papers rather than transfer to Laurel Academy, agents harassing parents and threatening jail if students didn’t attend public school after transfer requests are received, staff saying Laurel Academy is operating unlawfully an lacks the right to offer educational services, agents knowingly filing false Child Protective Services complaints, calling Laurel Academy a “dump” and claiming students had to bring their own toilet paper, saying Laurel Academy had closed and refusing to accept Laurel Academy credits when students do return to public school.
“Consequently, when such a student returns to public school, they are placed in the same grade they were in when they left public school – even if substantial educational progress has been made and years have passed,” the complaint states. “All other school districts accept Laurel Academy credits, but Preston BOE refuses.”
The plaintiffs accuse the Preston school board of violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act, harassment and discrimination based on disability, defamation, tortious interference with a business and violation of statute. They also request a permanent injunction and/or writs of prohibition and mandamus prohibiting further defamatory action, compelling the defendant to cease and desist obstructing the plaintiffs’ lawful efforts to retrieve educational records and compelling the board to accept valid Laurel Academy credits.
They seek compensatory damages for mental and emotional anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, anxiety, aggravation, annoyance, inconvenience, lost income and benefits, loss of standing and reputation, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
The board filed an answer denying the allegations, and it also filed a motion to dismiss.
The plaintiffs are being represented by attorney David M. Grunau of Morgantown. The board is being represented by Ashley Hardesty O'Dell and W. Austin Smith of Bowles Rice's Morgantown office. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Steven Shaffer.
Preston Circuit Court case number 20-C-8
