Former Ocean City High School AD Alleges Sexual Discrimination Against District

The former Ocean City High School Athletic Director accused of illegally accessing the email account of the school district’s superintendent has filed a notice that she intends to sue, the Ocean City Gazette reports.

Christine Lentz, 53, of Woodbine, was charged in August with second-degree official misconduct and third-degree criminal computer activity.

She allegedly accessed the school district email account of Ocean City Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kathleen Taylor without prior authorization between April 1 and June 1 of this year.

In a tort claim notice filed last month, Lentz alleges that she was wrongfully terminated by the school district, and that Taylor objected to her sexual orientation, according to the report.

Lentz served as Ocean City Athletic Director for seven years, beginning in 2008. She resigned earlier this summer, citing health reasons.

She now says she was forced to resign, and that she faced a pattern of discrimination after school district officials learned she was in a same-sex marriage in the summer of 2013, according to the report.

Lentz is seeking $2 million, according to the report. A tort claim notice is not a lawsuit. It simply informs the potential defendant of the possibility of a lawsuit.

Lentz is a former girls basketball coach at the school, earning 217 wins, the 11th most in Cape-Atlantic League history.