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By Pepper Fisher

SEQUIM – Lawsuits filed two years ago by a former Student Support Specialist against the Sequim School District and, separately, against former school superintendent Rob Clark, have been settled for a combined $1.5 million dollars. The District settled for one million dollars, Clark for $500,000.

The suits, filed by Hanna McAndie, alleges Clark essentially destroyed McAndie’s personal and professional reputation by promoting the “scurrilous rumor” that she had an extra-marital affair with Clark’s predecessor.

She claims that while Clark was investigating her complaints against former Sequim Middle School Principal Vince Riccobene, which alleged discrimination and harassment on the part of a special needs student, Superintendent Clark discussed the rumored affair with her family members and her supervisor.

McAndie said in her court brief that Clark’s internal investigation was extremely harmful. She said it “devastated every aspect of her life”, her ”marriage fell apart”, she is “in financial distress and mass debt” because of it, and she was hospitalized four times in 2022 due to her mental health symptoms.

McAndie’s attorney, Daniel Gallagher, spoke to us on Monday.

“We are gratified that Hanna McAndie will have the resources necessary to address the mental health issues that she faces due to the personal destruction of her life as it was. And, we’re relieved that (former Sequim High School Principal) Shawn Langston, Vince Riccobene and Rob Clark are gone. And we’re hopeful that under the new leadership, the district will be able to move forward in a way that supports their own policies, which protect, or are supposed to protect, female employees from the kind of discrimination and retaliation that has occurred all too often.”

District Superintendent Regan Nickels released the following statement last Wednesday. It reads, in part;

“As some of you know, we have been working to resolve our case with employee Ms. Hanna McAndie for several months. While the District does not agree with Ms. McAndie’s position on a number of issues, the parties were recently able to come to an agreement. The resolution will be funded by the Washington Schools Risk Management Pool, and will not include any monetary contribution from the Sequim School District. The District is pleased that it will be able to return its full attention to educating students.”