Wrongful death lawsuit in Maryland alleged new Hilton Head principal ignored threats
For the past decade, Hilton Head Island Middle School’s new principal, Tanja Wheeler, has worked in the United Arab Emirates as a principal and in Fulton, Maryland, as a teacher.
But prior to that, she was an assistant principal in Maryland who was accused in a wrongful death lawsuit of placing a student in “imminent danger” by ignoring threats against him, according to reporting by the Baltimore Sun.
In May 2009, 14-year-old Christopher David Jones was attacked by six other teenagers in Crofton, Maryland, a suburb of Annapolis. He died of his injuries a few hours later.
His parents, David Jones and Jenny Adkins, filed a civil lawsuit 11 months later against the Anne Arundel County Board of Education and the six teens involved in his death.
Wheeler was never named as an individual defendant in the case, and the school board was dismissed as a defendant in 2011, Anne Arundel’s director of legal services, Laurie Pritchard, said Thursday.
One of the other defendants, 20-year-old Javel George, was ordered to pay the family $1.8 million in 2013.
But in the suit, Christopher’s parents alleged that Wheeler was aware that a student had threatened to stab Christopher in the cafeteria, but did not contact them about the threat.
They also alleged that Wheeler met with them after multiple calls and recommended that he transfer to another school, and that she promised to contact police and other authorities about the situation, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Wheeler “failed to take any action to fulfill these promises” and placed Christopher’s life in “imminent danger,” according to the suit.
According to the Sun, Wheeler was moved from the assistant principal role to a job in library and media services at Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ central office prior to the lawsuit being filed.
Pritchard said Wheeler resigned in 2011, and that she did not know any of the details of Wheeler’s reported transfer to media services.
Did Beaufort County School District know?
Wheeler is replacing Patricia Freda, who is retiring after more than 35 years in education. She previously served as principal at Nacel International School Systems and Future International School.
Wheeler’s hiring was approved in a 8-0-1 vote by the school board Wednesday night. William Smith abstained, saying he had not been able to look at and understand documents related to the hiring. Reached Friday, he said he had not been able to visit the district office during a designated window to view closed session documents, and that the board received a verbal presentation during closed session. David Striebinger and Angela Middleton did not cast votes.
Wheeler was one of nine principals announced at the meeting, and one of the two external hires that required a vote. The other vote to hire Bradley Tarrance as the principal of Robert Smalls International Academy fell along the same lines.
Beaufort County School District spokesperson Candace Bruder declined to say whether the district’s human resources department or the school board were aware of Wheeler’s involvement in the lawsuit.
“The District runs nationwide background checks on all employees to check for any violations of laws,” Bruder said. “Just because an individual is referenced in something does not mean they committed a crime.”
Wheeler was not immediately available for comment.
This story has been updated with comment from William Smith.
This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 9:21 AM.