Bedford County School Board sues parent for $600,000, claiming he harassed school staff with calls

The Bedford County School Board is suing a local parent for $600,000 for what it calls harassment of school division employees.

The suit follows a complaint the parent made to the state Department of Education in January, in which he claimed that the school had failed to provide services for his son’s learning disability. David Rife, the parent, also has a long history of trying to advocate for his son in the school division, as outlined in documents filed by both parties in the suit.

The suit, filed in Bedford County Circuit Court on March 26, accuses Rife of harassing and intimidating staff members by phone and email over the course of more than a year. Rife is the father of a 10th grade student at Staunton River High School.

The suit provides copies of three communication plans issued by the division since February 2023 to document repeated calls and emails from Rife to school staffers, including to Staunton River Principal Darcy Parker and Director of Special Education Kelly Jennings.

In each of those communication plans, Deputy Superintendent Karen Woodford outlined restrictions for Rife’s contact with school staff.

The most recent letter, dated Feb. 26, stated that Parker and Jennings would only communicate with Rife via email. Woodford advised: “Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Jennings will decide when and if to answer your email, but do not expect it to be more than once a week unless they feel more is needed.”

That document outlined some of Rife’s attempts to contact school staff about his son: “Between January 2-February 21, there have been 33 school days, and in that same time, there have been 46 phone calls to the school with you. On two of the 33 days, you called seven times, and on two other days, you called five times.”

The February letter reiterated a previous instruction that any phone calls for the school resource officer at Staunton River must go through the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office dispatch. The communication plans sent to Rife detail various interactions with the resource officer at the high school, including one instance where Rife asked the officer to file charges against a teacher. The document didn’t say why Rife was seeking charges.

Along with damages totaling $600,000, the school board requests that the court enter an injunction to stop Rife from using what it called obscene language when communicating with the public school division, that it enforce the February communication plan, and that it award the school division attorney fees for the suit.

Sands Anderson PC of Richmond filed the suit for the school board.

Rife’s attorney, David Whitehurst, responded April 15 with extensive documentation of Rife’s attempts to ensure that the school was adhering to his son’s special education plan. The response included copies of a request for investigation Rife made in late January to the Virginia Department of Education.

Rife’s complaint to the VDOE stated in part: “It should be noted that, over the past three years it has been expressed to me that if I file a complaint with the VDOE, it will have a negative impact on my son’s experience at school.” But Rife does not specify who told him that, and the VDOE doesn’t investigate such claims.

The VDOE investigator assigned to the complaint said in a report dated March 29 that the school division was noncompliant in executing five portions of Rife’s son’s individualized education program and must correct those issues.

The answer from Rife’s attorney rebuts claims of obscene language and intimidation, saying that the complaint’s citations of “threatening language” are related to Rife saying he would contact the police or file a complaint with the state education department.

“It is not a threat to say you may exercise your constitutional rights, such as the right to file a report or complaint with an appropriate authority,” Whitehurst wrote.

The response also says that Rife’s son was a victim of verbal and physical bullying by students, including an incident in which he was pushed into a locker head-first. Rife said in the response that the school never contacted him about the incident.

Whitehurst notes that Rife was never charged with any crimes, nor was he given a “no trespass” letter by the school system during the period highlighted in the complaint. “It is highly ironic that BCPS, whose School Board members have emphasized repeatedly and strongly the importance of protecting parental rights, have now sued a parent for a total of $600,000 because the school personnel did not like how he has advocated for his son,” Whitehurst wrote.

[Read more: Bedford County School Board approves policy limiting discussion of sexual orientation and gender .]

Neither Whitehurst nor Matthew Green, the lead attorney for the school board, responded to phone messages Tuesday.

School board chair Marcus Hill also did not respond to a phone message Tuesday, nor did any other board member. A call to a number listed for board member Dwayne Nelms said it had been disconnected.

The school division also did not respond to a phone message about the case.

The school board’s attorney has requested an emergency injunction to limit Rife’s communication with school staff. Rife’s attorney filed a motion on Monday to dismiss that request.

Meanwhile, there appears to be some confusion around the origin of the suit against Rife.

An April 19 post attributed to school board member Matthew Holbrook in a conservative political Facebook group says the board had no knowledge of the suit. Holbrook did not respond to messages left via Facebook, email and phone Tuesday in an attempt to confirm the origin of the post, but it appears to come from Holbrook’s personal account, which includes information about his run for school board for the District 2 seat in 2021.

“The suit was filed by an administrator without first consulting the board,” Holbrook wrote. “The board was notified of the lawsuit along with the complaint made to VDOE from an outside source, not the administrator. The superintendent was unaware of the suit as well.”

The board held a special called meeting on Monday evening, which Holbrook said in the post would be used to discuss the lawsuit. “I ask that the public be patient as we get to the bottom of this issue,” he wrote.

That meeting was closed to the public.

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