Maryland teacher sues school district for alleged racial discrimination

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - A Montgomery County Public Schools special education teacher is suing the school district for racial discrimination. He alleges he was unfairly demoted and transferred to a different school thirty miles away.

The teacher, Rahman Culver, says he was the only Black male in a 15-member group of hand-picked and highly recommended Montgomery County Public Schools teachers chosen to join a cohort focusing on becoming administrators.

Culver says while in that cohort he was promoted to acting assistant principal in October 2022 here at Montgomery Blair High School.
By February 2024, he says he was told his position was being abolished.

In his lawsuit, Culver says he was told his position as an acting assistant principal at Montgomery Blair High School was abolished due to the 2025 operational budget and that he would "need to apply for new positions" or else be involuntarily replaced.

The latter reportedly took place and Culver says he now teaches special education thirty miles away. The apparent demotion reportedly included a $25,000 pay cut.

Culver alleges MCPS intentionally places Black and non-white administrators in schools with a high percentage of students who receive free and reduced meal services.

That placement, Culver says, disproportionately impacts Black and Latino provisional and acting administrators, who he says were on the chopping block due to this year’s budget.

"Somebody in HR or whoever is responsible for putting that cohort together did not do their due diligence or … values and benefits in our schools systems," said Retired Superintendent Dr. Rebecca Good.

FOX 5's Tisha Lewis did some digging and found that in 2020, the Maryland State Board of Education developed a task force focusing on transforming the culture of Maryland’s schools for Black boys. Their goal was to recruit "racially and ethnically diverse teacher and administrator candidates into programs."