Clemmons Lawsuit Against RPS School Board and Kamras: Claims and Defense

The Clemmons lawsuit against RPS is a federal case filed September 10, 2025, by former Chief Talent Officer Maggie Clemmons against the Richmond School Board, all nine of its members, and Superintendent Jason Kamras. She is seeking more than $6.35 million, alleging the defendants allowed employees to defame her at a public board meeting and then terminated her without due process.¹

What Clemmons Is Claiming

The complaint raises two central claims: defamation and violation of due process.

On defamation, Clemmons does not sue the employees who spoke against her. Her theory targets the board and Kamras for allowing the statements at all. The suit calls the employee statements “false, malicious and defamatory on their face” and describes the speakers as a group of “disgruntled” employees running a “smear campaign.”² It alleges that settled School Board policy did not permit complaints against specific employees during public comment, and that the board adopted a “new and unprecedented policy” days before the February 4, 2025 meeting to let the speakers proceed.¹

The complaint further alleges Kamras told Clemmons before the meeting that employees intended to speak against her and acknowledged the allegations were “baseless and serious,” but said no one would prevent them from being aired. According to the suit, Kamras made “no effort to prevent the defamation, or to stop it once it began.” Clemmons also contends that accusations from at least two of the speakers had been investigated and found without merit by the fall of 2024, and were nevertheless allowed to be repeated in public.²

On due process, the lawsuit alleges Kamras and the board terminated her “without any due process,” which she says created the impression the accusations were true.²

The damages sought break down to $1 million in compensatory damages for the alleged constitutional violation and more than $5 million in general damages for mental and emotional distress, reputational harm, lost income, humiliation, and what the complaint describes as the destruction of her future prospects in public education.³

What Triggered the Suit

On February 4, 2025, eighteen RPS employees spoke or presented letters during public comment at a School Board meeting, accusing Clemmons of creating a hostile work environment, discriminating against employees of color, violating district policies and law, and being unqualified for her role. The employees had compiled a document exceeding 55 pages of personal statements and grievances, coordinated through the Richmond Education Association.⁴ Clemmons was present but did not respond.⁵

Two days later, Kamras placed Clemmons on administrative leave pending an independent third-party investigation.⁶ By May 2025, while she was still technically employed, RPS posted a job opening for her position.⁷ According to the lawsuit, she was asked to resign; the circumstances suggest she did not do so voluntarily.¹

How RPS Is Defending the Case

The district, represented by attorney Ben Rottenborn, has moved to dismiss and raised several defenses. Board members, the district argues, had a constitutional obligation to allow free speech in a public forum and could not have blocked the employees from speaking.⁸

Rottenborn invoked Virginia’s anti-SLAPP statute, which is designed to protect against lawsuits targeting protected speech. He also raised the “fair report privilege,” arguing state law shields the district from liability for publishing or broadcasting board meeting proceedings online. The defense further contends the employee statements were opinion rather than actionable defamation, and cites a 2016 opinion from then-Attorney General Mark Herring stating the public has protected rights to address school employees by name during public comment.⁸

On the procedural side, RPS moved to quash Clemmons’s subpoena for communications between board members and employees, calling the requests “overbroad and unduly burdensome.”⁸

Where the Case Stands

The first hearing was held June 5, 2026, before Judge Devika E. Davis. Neither Clemmons nor her attorney, Richard F. Hawkins III, was present when it began. Hawkins later said he had been arguing a separate matter before another judge in the same courthouse and that “signals got crossed” between the two courtrooms.⁸

With Clemmons’s side absent, Rottenborn proceeded, and Judge Davis sustained the district’s arguments. She did not formally dismiss the case. The judge said she would be willing to rehear the matter if the absence was due to an emergency, and invited Clemmons to file a Motion to Reopen for full oral argument.⁸

Who Is Being Sued

The complaint names the Richmond School Board, Superintendent Kamras, and all nine board members: Chair Shavonda Fernandez, Vice Chair Matthew Percival, Kathryn Ricard, Ali Faruk, Wesley Hedgepeth, Stephanie Rizzi, Anne Holton, Cheryl Burke, and Emmett Jafari.⁹

Kamras’s current contract, running through June 30, 2029, includes an indemnification clause under which the School Board agrees to hold the superintendent harmless from legal proceedings brought against him in his individual or official capacity, provided his actions were taken in good faith and within the scope of his authority.¹⁰

1
The Richmonder. Former RPS Chief Talent Officer Sues School Board Members, Kamras Over Meeting Where 18 Employees Called for Her Dismissal
2
WRIC. Former RPS Chief Talent Officer Lawsuit Defamation
3
Richmond Times-Dispatch. Former RPS Chief Talent Officer Seeks Over $6 Million in Defamation Lawsuit
4
VPM. Jason Kamras, RPS, Maggie Clemmons Talent Complaint Harassment
5
WRIC. RPS Toxic Work Environment Allegations
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VPM. Jason Kamras, Maggie Clemmons, Richmond Public Schools Workplace Investigation
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The Richmonder. RPS Posts Job Opening for a Chief Talent Officer Months After Investigation Into Clemmons
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The Richmonder. Former RPS Employee’s Defamation Suit Has Its First Hearing but Without Her Lawyer
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Richmond City Public Schools. RPS School Board
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Richmond City Public Schools. Kamras 2025-29 Contract