The New Hanover County Board of Education has approved a settlement agreement in the John Doe 15-17 cases involving New Hanover County Schools.
Near the end of the board’s agenda review meeting, board member Pat Bradford made a motion to approve the settlement negotiated by the insurance company. The vote passed unanimously.
The settlement is connected to one of several sex abuse lawsuits filed against the district in relation to former teacher Michael Earl Kelly.
According to the Rhine Law Firm, the settlement is $640,000 in total.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The matter was discussed during a closed session of the board meeting.
Kelly entered guilty pleas to 59 charges in June 2019, including sexual exploitation of a minor, indecent liberties with a student and indecent liberties with a child. He was sentenced to 17.6 to 31.25 years in prison.
Rhine Law Firm and the Lea-Schultz Law Firm, P.C. have represented victims in lawsuits against the district. The three John Does named in this lawsuit were not represented in an earlier case against New Hanover County Schools, which concluded with a $5.75 million settlement. New Hanover County Schools did not admit any wrongdoing in that case.
When the lawsuit was filed, Rhine Law Firm said the three victims were former students at Isaac Bear Early College High School. Attorneys alleged that a principal interviewed parents and former students about Kelly’s conduct after 2010 and that Kelly would have been fired and reported to law enforcement had the principal acted appropriately.
A spokesperson for Rhine Law Firm and Lea-Schultz Law Firm issued the following statement to WECT following the board’s vote:
Our John Doe clients were relieved to reach a settlement in their lawsuit against the New Hanover County School Board. They were each groomed and sexually abused by Michael Kelly, a former science teacher at Isaac Bear Early College High School. Unfortunately, our school boards in New Hanover County have allowed predators to prey on our children for decades. What happened under the school system’s watch will follow our clients for the rest of their lives. The astonishing bravery of these young men has forced the school system to improve its practices such that something like this should never happen again.
— Ruth A. Sheehan, Rhine Law Firm