A gym teacher listed on Kelly Miller Middle School's staff roster in northeast Washington has a past arrest tied to an 18-year-old exchange student's shower, according to recent reporting. In that earlier case, authorities said the teacher admitted to placing a recording device under a bathroom door. The renewed spotlight on that history has unsettled former staffers and education officials, who say it raises serious questions about vetting and student safety.
According to WJLA, the staffer is currently listed at Kelly Miller and began working there in 2022. The station reported that DC Public Schools said "every employee at Kelly Miller Middle School has an active clearance on record." A former Kelly Miller educator told the outlet she was "shocked" that someone with that record could be in close contact with children. WJLA reported that the district declined to discuss individual personnel matters, citing confidentiality rules.
Public records and contemporaneous coverage in The Washington Post trace the episode back to 2014, when Montgomery County police charged Darrien Lamont Tucker after an exchange student documented an Apple iPad being slid under a bathroom door and later recorded the device being placed there again. At the time, the private school where he taught placed him on leave and said it had received no prior complaints about him.
Where He Worked Then And Now
The McLean School of Maryland lists a Potomac campus and describes itself as a private K–12 school; the campus is identified online at the school's site. The Kelly Miller staff directory currently lists a "Mr. Tucker" as a physical-education teacher at 301 49th St. NE, though the page shows only a last name. That mix of an older county case and the school's current online roster has prompted former employees and local advocates to question how the hire was processed in the first place.
Questions About Vetting And Next Steps
Jacque Patterson, president of the State Board of Education, told WJLA that "retention is very hard" but stressed that officials must keep "students safe first and foremost." A former educator told the station they were troubled by the idea of a staffer with that history being "in close contact with children" in a physical-education setting. Reporters also found that court records tied to the 2014 case do not appear on Maryland's statewide case search, which has complicated efforts to piece together what happened after the arrest.
Legal Notes
Montgomery County's 2014 press release says police charged the individual with five counts of conducting visual surveillance of another person in a private place "with prurient intent." That release remains the clearest contemporaneous public record of the episode; follow-up details about later court actions are not readily visible in statewide online searches. DCPS has reiterated that employees must pass criminal background checks and maintain active clearances but says it cannot discuss individual personnel matters.
Parents and staff who spoke with reporters say they want clearer answers from the school and the district about what records were checked before the hire. Officials have not released additional detail about the Kelly Miller hire. The situation remains a developing story, with public records and official statements being monitored for updates.
