A trio of Concordia Prep lawsuits filed by former students say that their complaints of sexual abuse on the school’s campus went unheeded by school and church officials.

Concordia Preparatory School, formerly known as Baltimore Lutheran High School, has reportedly been hit with a barrage of complaints alleging school officials failed to address reports of harassment and even sexual assaults from female students while on campus. According to The Baltimore Sun, male students perpetrated the abuse and when female students reported it, the headmaster, Brent Johnson, and other school officials refused to address the allegations and even told victims to keep quiet.

Concordia Prep is located in Towson, M.D. It is a private middle and high school with approximately 400 students. It boasts a 25-acre campus and markets itself as a distinctive experience for students to prepare them for “meaningful personal and professional lives.”

Lawsuit Alleges Culture Tolerating Abuse

The first lawsuit filed against the school alleged that a male student recorded and spread a sexually explicit video of a minor female student without her knowledge. The plaintiff alleged that, as a result, she was subject to sexual harassment by other male students and, ultimately, two assaults on school property.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff and another student reported the sexual assault and harassment to school officials, but were ignored.

The plaintiff’s family told Baltimore Sun reporters that their daughter’s experience and the failure of school officials to address male students accused of sexual assault and harassment is in keeping with “the culture” at Concordia Prep.

Other Students Claim Their Reports Were Ignored

A second set of Concordia Prep lawsuits alleging similar complaints of sexual assault and harassment by male students were filed shortly after.

In one of the complaints, a woman who attended Concordia Prep alleges that she was subjected to numerous “unwelcome sexual advances from some male students who were emboldened by formal and informal ‘traditions’ and condoned practices at the school.”

The plaintiff claims that after she ended a relationship with another student who was on the soccer team at Concordia, she was subject to unrelenting sexual remarks by student-athletes while she attended school in 2018 and 2019. She claims that she both reported these remarks to teachers and they were overheard by school officials, but administrators failed to act.

Subsequently, she alleges she was sexually assaulted in classrooms on two occasions. The plaintiff says that this time, when she reported the assaults to school officials, she was suspended. She says she was trying to transfer to another school at the time and school officials threatened to impede her transfer if she continued to speak up about the assaults.

A second lawsuit alleges that a female student was subjected to numerous sexually explicit texts and social media messages by male Concordia students. The student and her family allege that they reported these messages to school officials, but their reports were not addressed.
The student says that she was later sexually assaulted by an older male student, however, despite criminal charges against the student, Concordia officials failed to expel or even discipline the student.

Concordia Prep’s ‘Hyper-Sexualized’ Culture Condoned by Officials

The lawsuits allege that sexual acts by students are routine at Concordia and students utilize empty classrooms, courtyards, hallways, and particularly the visiting team’s locker room throughout the school day. The lawsuit claims a “hyper-sexualized” culture at the school allows student sexual acts to go unaddressed and exempts male student-athletes from penalties for their behavior.

“This hyper-sexualized culture at CPS was fueled in large part by a general consensus that student-athletes – especially male student-athletes, whose athletic programs drew in large alumni donations – were ‘above the law’ and free from recrimination for rule-breaking,” states the complaint contending that school officials routinely ignored reports of sexual assault and harassment by student-athletes.

Headmaster Rejects Efforts to Implement Reporting Policies

According to the complaints, a school psychologist left Concordia abruptly in 2017 after her efforts to implement a mandatory reporting system for sexual assault were stymied by Headmaster Brent Johnson. In addition, teacher efforts to better address sexual assault and harassment complaints were also blocked by Johnson and other school administrators.

Allegedly, the school instead implemented practices that encouraged female students to not use the word “assault” when describing their experiences and worked to “silence the growing number of reports of assault that came forth from survivors of abuse at” Concordia. Teachers were subjected to a “gag order,” claims the lawsuit that also points out a number of them resigned due to the failure of the school to properly handle sexual assault reports by students.

For its part, school officials declined to comment on the pending lawsuits, according to The Baltimore Sun, but issued the following statement: “the safety and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff are of utmost concern to us. As we stated before, we do not tolerate disregard of our code of conduct and sexual harassment policy, and we thoroughly and promptly take appropriate responsive action to all alleged violations.”

The Concordia Prep Lawsuits are Case No. 1:20-cv-03229 and Case No. 1:20-cv-03214-ELH, in the U.S. District Court District of Maryland Northern Division.