Ex-Logan teacher paid $175K in settlement

Former Logan Municipal Schools teacher and coach Rhyan Daugherty received a $175,000 payment during a recent settlement of his whistleblower and retaliation lawsuit against Logan superintendent Dennis Roch.

The Quay County Sun received a copy of the 10-page settlement and general release of claims agreement, signed by Daugherty on March 29, through an open-records request to Roch.

Parties in the agreement include Roch, Daugherty, the Logan school board, New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority and all the authority’s and school district’s former and current officials, administrators and employees, including Logan teacher Dallas Valentine, who was a defendant when the lawsuit first was filed in 2017.

Roch declined to comment about the settlement in an email last week.

Among the conditions:

• Daugherty would be paid three allocations of $58,333 for non-economic damages, totaling $175,000;

• A release of claims to Daugherty and Valentine;

• A waiver of any possible future class-action lawsuit;

• Daugherty would be responsible for any reimbursement to insurance companies related to the incident;

• Dismissal of the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled;

• An affirmation that no other lawsuits will be filed;

• Receipt of compensation and any leave;

• No disclosure of proprietary or confidential information of the Logan school district by Daugherty;

• No reinstatement or future employment of Daugherty at Logan.

Daugherty’s lawyer, Warren Frost of Logan, earlier had declined to provide details of the settlement, citing a confidentiality provision.

However, upon learning the Quay County Sun had obtained the settlement document, Frost said Thursday that one third of the $175,000 payout, or $58,333, had been paid by the Logan school district and the rest by the state insurance authority.

District Judge Donna Mowrer of Portales on April 25 dismissed Daugherty’s lawsuit against Roch with prejudice. Frost said the case was settled after Mowrer ordered both parties into a settlement conference.

During a May 2021 trial that ended in a hung jury, Frost had requested $192,730 in pay estimated after Daugherty was fired in April 2017, plus $300,000 for emotional distress. Jurors voted 9-3 in favor of Daugherty — one from his winning a judgment.

Daugherty had accused Roch of improperly firing him under pressure from Valentine and others after Daugherty reported an allegation he had heard she was having an inappropriate relationship with a student.

New Mexico State Police investigated and found no evidence such a relationship occurred.

The lawsuit claimed Valentine and her husband Jimmy Valentine spent months harassing Daugherty, undermining him with school employees and demanding that Roch fire Daugherty.

Frost argued in court that Daugherty’s fate was decided during a school board meeting in January 2017 attended by the Valentines and Logan rancher Jay Cammack, who directed their anger at Roch and Daugherty.

“That’s the night Mr. Daugherty got fired,” Frost told the jury. “He got fired because Mr. Roch decided to save his own skin instead of protect his employee.”

Daugherty was informed on April 19, 2017, that he would not be rehired for the next school year.

Roch’s lawyers during the trial said Daugherty was fired because his students showed poor academic progress during his two years with the district.

Frost countered in court by noting Daugherty had ratings of “effective” and “highly effective” that were submitted to the New Mexico Public Education Department the same year he was fired.

The Olney, Texas, school district last month hired Daugherty as girls basketball coach, and he persuaded recently departed Melrose girls basketball coach Caleb King to be his assistant coach.

King’s Lady Buffaloes beat Daugherty’s Lady Longhorns in the girls basketball state finals 48-47 in 2016.