RSU 40 has been granted a summary judgment in a lawsuit filed in 2019 by a Medomak Valley High School graduate alleging two years of sexual harassment from former Principal Andrew Cavanaugh.
Judge John Woodcock Jr. granted the district a summary judgment, meaning the claim against RSU 40 will not go to trial, Superintendent Steve Nolan said in a Wednesday, March 22 email.
The district, Cavanaugh, and former social worker Chuck Nguyen were all defendants in the case. Woodcock’s judgment was only for the claim against the district, and the two claims remain against Cavanaugh and Nguyen, who was an employee of the district until August 2022, Nolan said.
“Although we are pleased with the decision, we do not condone what Mr. Cavanaugh did and we wish only the best for the plaintiff,” Nolan said.
The former student’s suit alleges that Cavanaugh sexually harassed her when she was a student at the school from 2016 until he resigned in December 2017. The filed suit said that Nguyen and assistant principals failed to report the alleged harassment and that the district failed to train them.
The defense argued in 2020 that the district did not know about the alleged harassment. According to the original motion for dismissal, assistant principals would have followed district procedure by reporting any suspected harassment to the principal, in this case Cavanaugh himself.
RSU 40 and Nguyen both filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit in 2020, which were denied. The former student had originally filed against the high school as well, but dropped it from the charges in 2020.
