Temporary Principal Named at Rock Terrace, as Questions Loom Over Investigation

Katherine Lertora has been named acting principal for Rock Terrace School in Rockville, as the investigation continues into how school staff handled money students earned in a work-study program, The Gazette reports.

Lertora, coordinator/administrator at Stephen Knolls School in Kensington, will take over for Dianne G. Thornton, who will retire Aug. 1, MCPS spokesman Dana Tofig told the newspaper.

The search process for a new principal will begin in the winter, Tofig told The Gazette.

Read The Gazette’s full account at Gazette.net.

Rock Terrace teaches work-life skills to special education students ages 12 to 21. 

Parents allege that staff at Rock Terrace set up bank accounts for money students earned and then withdrew the earnings for themselves.

The Washington Post reports that the school’s initial investigation found that though the program was “poorly managed,” there was no evidence of fraud.  

Special education advocates told The Post that parents should be asking whether their kids were denied the “free and appropriate public education” that federal law entitles them to.

Parents were expected to meet with school officials Thursday night at Rock Terrace, The Post reports. 

Read The Washington Post’s full account at WashingtonPost.com.