Preston County BOE denies claims made against it by Laurel Academy LLC

KINGWOOD — The Preston County Board of Education denied claims made against it by a private school and asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit.

Kristine Ayers-Cline filed suit last month in Preston Circuit Court on behalf of Laurel Academy LLC and herself. She is the director of the academy.

According to the suit, “Since its inception, Laurel Academy — for inexplicable reasons — has been the target of false and defamatory statements and rhetoric made by agents of the BOE to prospective students at Laurel Academy, in apparent attempts to dissuade students from transferring to Laurel Academy.”

The board’s reply says that at all times it “acted reasonably and appropriately under the circumstances” and “did not act carelessly, recklessly, negligently, outrageously or intentionally and did not commit any acts or omissions to the detriment of plaintiff or which proximately caused injuries or damages as alleged in the complaint.”

The damages alleged in the suit were not caused “by the actions or inactions of the board, but were caused by the actions or inactions of other entities and individuals for whose actions the board has no control and bears no responsibility,” the reply says.

The board’s partial motion to dismiss asks for dismissal of all “claims made under the West Virginia Human Rights Act and for defamation, as well as its claim for relief for ‘[m]ental anguish, humiliation, embarrassment, anxiety and other adverse mental and emotional effects.’ ” because a limited liability company doesn’t have standing under the West Virginia Human Rights Act and is not entitled to damages for the reasons given.

The defamation claim should be dismissed because the alleged statements are not defamatory and the board is immune under state code, it says.

Also, the motion says, Ayers-Cline doesn’t specify any conduct by the board that harmed her personally.

The board denies that the board interfered with transfers by refusing to release student records, that parents of transferring students were harassed, that board representatives have said Laurel operates unlawfully and other claims.

Further, the board denies that it “wrongfully” withholds education documents from students transferring from Preston High to Laurel Academy or that its representatives set out to defame and interfere with the Academy.

It also denies that the rights of special education students were violated, that the school and Ayers-Cline were defamed and that financial and other losses resulted from its actions.

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