CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — Albemarle County Public School Assistant Superintendent for Strategic Planning Dr. Patrick McLaughlin has been placed on administrative leave following accusations of sexual harassment made against him by Heidi Gilman Bennett, an outgoing officer with Albemarle County Public Schools Family Council, ACPS spokesperson Jason Grant confirmed to Cville Right Now on Thursday.

“During last night’s School Board meeting, an Albemarle County resident presented allegations about inappropriate comments and unprofessional behavior of an Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS) employee,” Grant told Cville Right Now in a statement. “We take all allegations of this nature very seriously, and Acting Superintendent Dr. Hayes has directed the Human Resources Office to formally investigate the matter. If the investigations uncover any personnel policy violations, we will take appropriate disciplinary action in accordance with ACPS policies and state/federal laws.

“As with any investigation of this nature, the employee will remain on administrative leave pending a final adjudication of the matter.”

The allegations stem from an EEOC complaint made by an ACPS employee. The employee alleged McLaughlin, at least four time over the course of three-and-a-half years, projected a photo of Gilman Bennett in her Stanford Dance Team Uniform from 1991 during meetings at the county’s central office.

Gilman Bennett posted a redacted and unsigned copy of the EEOC complaint, titled “Memorandum for the Record” with a subject line of “Sex Harassment, Discrimination, Intimidation toward Women by Albemarle County Public Schools Assistant Superintendent, P. McLaughlin” and dated July 13, on Substack on Thursday.

“He smiles and nods while directing his gaze and the attention of attendees to the display screen,” the Title IX complaint states. “One phrase he would use was ‘There’s our Family Council President, hard at work dancing.’”

She later revealed the allegations during a public forum at that evening school board meeting. She told Cville Right Now at the meeting she had learned of the incident just days before, when the employees sought her permission to include the incident in her complaint

Gilman Bennett also said she believes McLaughlin should be fired.

“The funny thing is, I’m exceedingly proud of that, my dance experience at Stanford,” she said. “So it backfired in that way, but I think the real, really important thing right now is that this is a really horrifying example of the culture within Central Office, that he could do something so blatantly sexist and wrong, repeatedly for three-and-a-half years, and it wouldn’t be reported at all, to HR or anybody.”

McLaughlin has worked as the division’s Assistant Superintendent for Strategic Planning since May 2022, having previously served as Chief of Strategic Planning since 2018. McLaughlin has also spent eight years as principal of Henley Middle School and one year as interim principal for Western Albemarle High School.