School warns of legal action

Monarch Academy parent told to ‘cease and desist’ after launching petition

The Children’s Guild has threatened a parent with legal action if she does not stop her complaints about the principal and other concerns at its school in Annapolis.

Ashley Hillary was asked to stop posting comments about Monarch Academy Annapolis on social media and remove the comments she already posted, according to a letter from the charter school group obtained by The Capital.

“When I got the letter there was definitely a moment like of, ‘you know what I quit. My daughter is going to finish out her three years here and I’m just going to let her be a student,’” Hillary said.

“I will be a parent in the background.” Before receiving the letter, Hillary called for the removal of Principal Rachel Amstutz and began a petition, citing concerns like staff turnover and lack of diverse representation. She posted on her Facebook page about it and a private Facebook group dedicated toMonarch parents.

The “cease and desist” letter from Howard K. Kurman, an attorney for the Children’s Guild, called Hillary’s posts disparaging and described her comments as either completely false or partial truths, “designed to tarnish the reputation” of the school and The Children’s Guild Alliance, theoverseeing organization.

It said the school was unaware of her concerns until they read her social media posts and the petition in July and August.

The letter was dated Sept. 11 and gave her seven days to comply.

Officials with the guild declined to comment about the letter, stating that there is no need for more explanation.

“In the meantime, we continue our important focus on educating the children at Monarch Academy Annapolis while also ensuring that parents and staff are appropriately supported and heard during this very challenging

school year. Our prior statements regarding our commitment to fostering a united school community remain true,” Children’s Guild officials said in an email statement.

Hillary disagreed that her posts were inaccurate.

In her petition, she called out staff turnover and a lack of representation in the school. Before Amstutz was hired, 16 staff members left in the 2018-19 school year and 22 left in the following school year, guild officials have said.

The school also experienced student growth from605 in 2017 to 741 in 2019.

Hillary is now encouraging the school to conduct an external audit, send out a survey to former staff members to assess possible issues and hire a diversity and equity and education expert.

“Maybe the principal doesn’t need to get fired. We can just adjust some things… diversify the staff and thenwe can have this utopia in education that Annapolis needs.”

The letter also states that Hillary’s comments have caused families to leave the school, operated under a contract with Anne Arundel County Public Schools to address crowding in the Annapolis school cluster. Families elect to send their children to the school.

“As a direct result of your disparaging, defamatory statements families have withdrawn their students from Monarch and (The Children’s Guild) have experienced negative publicity — all during critical weeks of the beginning of the school year,” Kurman wrote.

The school declined to provide the number of withdrawals from Monarch Academy this school year.

Hillary disagreed that student withdrawals are connected to her, saying that aparent or two reached out to her and ask about withdrawing their children but she told them to do whatworks for them. She plans on keeping her daughter enrolled.

“I am not going to persuade you to go or to stay. You need to take the time to think about what is best for your child,” she said.

The school has hosted small group meetings with parents and staff to talk about their views on Monarch Academy. The letter mentions that Hillary has been contacted by the school twice.

“Despite (The Children’s Guild) and Monarch’s efforts to understand and address your concerns, as recently as Sept. 10, you continue tomake disparaging posts and comments online regarding the school,” the letter states.

Hillary said Chief of Educational Services Kathy Lane called her about the comment she made on Facebook.

The comment, Hillary said, was in response to a parent who spoke in support of the principal.

To do so, she compiled articles about what happened at the school to give the parents a clearer idea, she said. “Thepointwas to share theinformation.” At an August meeting with the school and guild representatives, Hillary said she listened to other parents bring up concerns to school officials before she spoke.

Some talked about community building, diversity in staff and transparency. At the meeting, she said she believed parentswere heard but shewants to see action.

“We need tomake some sort of progress,” she said.

In regards to the letter, she said she will stay away from social media but will not remain silent.

“It’s not just me by myself. I’m just the one that’s spoken out the most and been in the front of all of this— but I amnot alone in this,” she said.