Lawsuit alleges ex-principal accessed private information

Former Seven Peaks School principal Megan Martin is being sued by the school for allegedly downloading private documents about students and staff.

In court papers filed Friday, the school alleges Martin “improperly and without authorization downloaded thousands of the School’s electronically stored files… (containing) highly sensitive student and parent information.” The document gives psychological evaluations of students as an example.

The lawsuit states Martin was fired on Sept. 7 and accessed the files both before and after her termination, once on Sept. 6 and again on Sept. 11. It states 5,912 files were downloaded.

Martin told NewsChannel 21 on Wednesday she had been advised by her lawyer not to talk on camera. But she said she’s devastated, and was clearly emotional when talking about how this could impact her family. She said there’s much more to the story and will talk when she is able to.

Seven Peaks’ interim principal, Kent Vallier, sent this statement:

“Megan Martin is no longer with Seven Peaks School and while it’s our policy to not share details concerning personnel issues, I can tell you about plans for the school moving forward.

“The Seven Peaks School Board of Directors has formed a principal search committee and asked me to serve as the interim principal overseeing the school’s daily operations.

“Also, Seven Peaks is pleased to announce that one of its founding board members, Carol Tobey, has joined the board and that Seven Peaks founder Debi Corso is also serving as an advisor to the board.

“As we work together to build a new leadership team, our students continue to be our primary focus. Our incredible team of teachers and staff are excited to be working in the classrooms and partnering with parents to provide an excellent independent private school education for our kids.

“Additionally, as stated in the notice to parents, Seven Peaks School learned of a recent data breach to its electronic records and has taken prompt action to address the situation, including filing a lawsuit seeking to contain and recover the data.

“Seven Peaks School has also notified its community members of the situation and is in the process of providing additional notice to others that may have been impacted as well. We are working with counsel to address these issues and will continue to keep the Seven Peaks community advised as our investigation continues.”

The lawsuit asks Martin to return the electronic files immediately, and states the school has “suffered compensatory damages,” leaving the amount open-ended and amendable by the school.

Seven Peaks is an independent private school on Bend’s Westside, serving children in junior kindergarten through eighth grade.