Note: This report contains discussions of sexual abuse, self-harm, and suicide. If you or anyone you know is in crisis, call the mental health hotline at 98 .
On a Tuesday evening in February 2018, I got a phone call from a Sheriff’s Deputy. We talked briefly. They told me that a teacher named Michael Earl Kelly had been arrested, that the charges were serious, and that there was more to come. I asked how serious. The deputy said only, “it’s bad.”
Criminal investigation and civil litigation involving New Hanover County Schools district have dragged on for four years. That’s left the survivors of sexual abuse by former teacher Michael Earl Kelly in limbo, struggling "minute by minute," as one young man put it. For them, justice, healing, and closure are taking a very long time.
A high-profile civil case against New Hanover County Schools is on hold after a slew of rulings by Superior Court Judge Phyllis Gorham on June 29, 2022.
New Hanover County Schools is suing its four insurance providers over roughly $31 million in coverage to deal with the civil fallout from the crimes of former teacher Michael Earl Kelly. The case could now get a Rule 2.1 designation, meaning a single judge will oversee the whole process which could help expedite the case and pave the way for a decision in the Kelly civil case.