Former Montgomery County student sues school board over alleged abuse in the late 2000s

A former Montgomery County Public Schools student has filed a lawsuit against the school board for allegedly ignoring misconduct by an elementary school teacher for more than a decade.

The lawsuit, filed in June in the Circuit Court of Maryland for Montgomery County, invokes the state’s Child Victims Act of 2023, which made it easier for survivors of child sexual abuse to seek accountability.

The case revolves around Daniel Picca, who worked at several MCPS elementary schools from 1985 to 2011.

He faced numerous allegations of inappropriate conduct, starting in at least 1993, but was nonetheless transferred to new campuses. The lawsuit centers around his time at Kemp Mill Elementary, where he worked in the late 2000s.

Picca was fired in 2011 and appealed his case. In a blistering opinion, the Maryland State Board of Education affirmed his termination and criticized local school officials for allowing Picca to move from school to school despite complaints that spanned 17 years.

“When confronted with such obvious inappropriate behaviors on the part of a teacher toward his students, it is our expectation and, we believe, the expectation of the school community, that the teacher will be removed from contact with students,” they wrote.

The Banner attempted to reach Picca via a phone number associated with him online. Someone answered but hung up after a reporter introduced herself.

Attempts to reach his lawyer, whose office is closed for the Labor Day weekend, were unsuccessful.

MCPS spokeswoman Liliana López declined to comment on the pending litigation.

According to the lawsuit, Picca repeatedly forced the student to “remove his shirt, flex his muscles, and engage in physically invasive ‘wrestling moves.’”

He allegedly subjected him to “unwanted physical contact, including massages and touching of Plaintiff’s shoulders, back, chest, and torso.”

Complaints of similar behavior with other boys spanned decades.

“School administrators had received complaints dating back to at least 1993 that Defendant Picca directed male students to remove their shirts, flex their muscles, sit on his lap, participate in wrestling activities, and engage in other inappropriate physical interactions with him,” the lawsuit reads.

Throughout those years, the school board allegedly failed to take reasonable steps to protect students.

The man who filed the lawsuit, who now lives in Texas, said in the lawsuit that he suffered lasting emotional distress because of what happened to him as a child.