Former Columbia public school administrator suing district over claims of retaliation

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Andrew McCarthy, a former assistant principal at Hickman High School, is suing the Columbia Public Schools over claims that the district passed him over for promotions because of a previous lawsuit he filed.

"Each instance he was passed over in favor of somebody with you know less education, less experience... essentially not as good of credentials as he's had," McCarthy's lawyer, Andy Hirth said.

McCarthy claims that the district did not promote him after the discrimination lawsuits he and his wife, Rachel Henderson, filed against the district in 2017. Federal court documents say that McCarthy applied for three open principal positions in the district, but the district favored "less qualified candidates."

CPS has filled principal positions at all three high schools since McCarthy settled his 2019 lawsuit, passing him up each time. McCarthy claims he was one of two finalists for the Hickman High School principal position in 2022. The district chose Mary Grupe for the spot, a person McCarthy claimed to have more experience than and that he even helped train when she started at Hickman. Hirth also noted that Grupe's experience did not compare to McCarthy's.

"You know there really is no comparison in their credentials," Hirth said. Mary Grupe had been an assistant principal for three years before she was promoted to principal. Andrew had been the principal for twelve, assistant principal for twelve years."

McCarthy is now suing the district, claiming that had he not sued the district in the past, he would have been hired as principal. The lawsuit accused superintendent Dr. Brian Yearwood of retaliation by passing him up because of his 2017 lawsuit.

"Around the same time that he passed Plaintiff over for promotion, Dr. Yearwood told the members of his cabinet that 'too many employees who have sued the District still work here,'" the lawsuit claims.

Hirth noted that McCarthy is asking that the case be taken to trial, and that he and his wife are compensated for having to take a job that pays less.

"And so he wants to hold the school district accountable for essentially ending his career you know, his career here at cps," Hirth said. "They're both having to take a paycut to go to different schools, and so they'd like compensation you know for the loss of pay that they've had to endure."

ABC 17 News reached out to a CPS spokeswoman for comment. As of Tuesday night, no one was available for comment.

The Raytown C-2 School District announced on its Facebook page Tuesday that McCarthy had been hired as the high school's principal. Raytown is a suburb of Kansas City.