Fruitland school district, former principal hit with sexual harassment, retaliation lawsuit

Following what she says was unwanted, and often vulgar, sexual harassment by a high school principal, and a demotion after she talked to police investigators about that alleged harassment, a former Fruitland High School employee is suing the school district and its leaders.

The former principal, Mike Fitch, has been the subject of a criminal investigation and was found not guilty on Oct. 4 by a Canyon County jury after a four-day trial.

Fitch was placed on leave last November pending an Idaho State Police investigation into sexual misconduct allegations. He resigned in April after the Payette County prosecutor charged him with two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery involving a school employee and one count of patronizing a prostitute.

On Tuesday, the employee whose accusations led to the charges and trial of Fitch filed a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit in federal court against the school district, Superintendent Teresa Fabricius and Fitch.

In her 21-page complaint, Megan Fenton alleges that soon after she began working at Fruitland High School in August 2018, Fitch began watching her and behaving inappropriately.

“By September 20, 2018, Fitch was sending Ms. Fenton unsolicited sexual emails to her personal email account under the alias of ‘Taylor Roark,’” the complaint states.

From Sept. 20, 2018, to Oct. 7, 2018, the complaint states that Fitch sent Fenton approximately 68 emails, the vast majority of them “graphically sexual in nature,” including “erotica stories that outlined in graphic detail the sexual acts he would like to perform on Ms. Fenton or would like Ms. Fenton to perform on him.”

Fenton alleges that Fitch’s behavior escalated, and she said that during October 2018, Fitch engaged in the following conduct: regular nonconsensual touching of Fenton in the school’s break room; repeatedly showing Fenton his erection through his pants; offering Fenton money for sex and asking her to have sex on school district property; asking Fenton to send him nude photos or videos of herself; telling Fenton to come to his residence while his family was on vacation in Hawaii; and regularly talking about different sex acts with Fenton.

Fenton, who claims she felt pressured because Fitch was her boss and could fire her, said that “under the constant demands and pressure of Fitch,” she “sent him a photograph of her backside in underwear, hoping this would placate Fitch and he would cease his harassing of her.”

Fitch then sent Fenton multiple videos and pictures of himself masturbating and of his penis to her personal account from his alias account, according to the complaint. Allegedly, one of the videos sent by Fitch to Fenton was made during school hours on school properly, and the high school announcements can be heard in the background of the video.

The next month, Fruitland Athletic Director Beth Holt asked Fenton whether Fitch was harassing her, according to the complaint.

“Ms. Fenton became emotional and confided in Ms. Holt the harassment and assaults she endured from Fitch,” the lawsuit states.

Holt reported the conduct to the Idaho State Police, which already had a criminal investigation underway regarding Fitch.

After ISP interviewed Fenton in November, she said in the complaint that Fabricius shunned her and provided no support. Fenton filed a sexual harassment report with the school district in December 2018.

Fenton says she finished out the 2018-19 school year. When she returned to her job after summer break, Fenton learned that her work location had been moved to the computer lab, and she had been reassigned as the computer lab monitor.

Fenton told the superintendent that working in the high school building “was triggering for her and she requested an accommodation allowing her to work elsewhere” in the district, according to the complaint. Fabricius told Fenton that the only option available to her was to take a teacher’s aide position with pay at $9 an hour, a significant demotion and pay cut, according to Fenton.

Fenton said in the complaint that she accepted the teacher’s aide position “in attempt to eliminate the emotionally triggering environment of working at Fruitland High School.”

On Aug. 28, 2019, “due to the intolerable conditions created by FSD, Fenton says she was ‘constructively discharged from her employment,’” according to the complaint.

Fenton’s 10-count complaint alleges two counts of Civil Rights Act violations for sexual harassment and retaliation; two counts of Title IX violations for sexual harassment and retaliation; one count of violating Idaho’s public employee whistleblower act; and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Fenton also includes civil battery and civil assault claims against Fitch.

The Statesman reached out to the Fruitland School District for comment but did not get a response.