$15M settlement reached in lawsuit vs. Federal Way Public Schools

Published 2:40 pm Thursday, May 28, 2026

A lawsuit resulted in a $15 million settlement related to allegations against Federal Way Public Schools over a teacher who sexually assaulted two students.

According to Cole Douglas, an attorney representing Victim 1 and Victim 2, a $15 million settlement was reached following a lawsuit against the school district alleging gender-based discrimination and negligence. These allegations stem from two former students, one of whom is a victim in a criminal case that resulted in a conviction, who said Glenfield Watkins sexually assaulted them when he was their teacher at Totem Middle School, now named Evergreen Middle School. The school is in the city of Kent but part of Federal Way Public Schools.

According to the civil complaint filed against the school district, the sexual grooming, sexual harassment and sexual abuse suffered by the plaintiffs by Watkins is unlawful gender-based discrimination, which occurred in a place of public accommodation. Regarding negligence, the complaint states that Federal Way Public Schools had the duty to protect the plaintiffs from sexual grooming, sexual harassment and sexual abuse suffered by the plaintiffs.

On Dec. 1, 2023, Watkins was sentenced to 14 months in prison for rape of a child in the third degree for assaulting Victim 1, with credit for time served, and was released on July 25, 2024.

The second woman, Victim 2, also alleged she was the victim of sexual assault by Watkins, though he was not convicted of this assault.

Regarding the source of the settlement funds, Douglas said it’s a common misconception that they come directly from the school’s budget.

According to Federal Way Public Schools spokesperson Jessica Morgan, all school districts in Washington state are required to carry certain types of liability insurance to protect against specific types of claims. She said these requirements are supported by state law and district policy.

“Liability insurance is handled through a risk management or insurance pool that helps provide coverage for qualifying claims and litigation costs,” Morgan said. “FWPS participates in liability coverage to help manage risk. Similar to how individuals carry insurance for automobiles or homes, school districts carry insurance coverage for a range of potential claims and legal matters.”

Regarding whether the district had a comment about the result of the lawsuit, Morgan said that Federal Way Public Schools does not comment on the details of specific legal actions.

The settlement

According to Douglas, the court ruled in his favor on Victim 1’s gender-based discrimination claim, and, after subsequent motions, the district continued to deny liability. Douglas said that because of the evidence presented during litigation and his clients’ standing up to the district, the district admitted liability, but court documents state that the district still disputed the extent of its liability.

Douglas said that after mediation, a resolution led to the settlement. Douglas said that despite the district admitting liability in court for gender-based discrimination and negligence, they fought it tooth and nail.

“The district would say they admitted liability, but in reality, they didn’t admit liability until they were backed into a corner through our aggressive litigation and our clients standing up to them and saying that it was wrong,” Douglas said. “So I wouldn’t say it was an admission by any means.”

According to court documents, the parties reached a settlement on Jan. 17, and the case was dismissed with prejudice on April 20 after Federal Way Public Schools sent the money to the plaintiffs.

Douglas said that for his clients, Victim 1 and Victim 2, their main goal was for no one else to experience what they went through, and money talks, so the hope is that the result of this case forces change. However, Douglas said he does not believe the district took accountability, but rather, that they saw the plaintiffs as truthful and passionate about obtaining justice, and that they evaluated the risks.

“When they did that, they made what was most likely a smart analysis by coming to the conclusion that they needed to resolve this sooner than later because I think at trial it would have been damning for the district,” he said.

Regarding Watkins’ prison sentence, Douglas said he doesn’t think anyone is pleased with the result, including his clients, but the criminal side of the justice system is less focused on the victims, while the civil side is where survivors can regain control and be properly compensated for what happened to them.

The assaults

Watkins is accused of having sex with Victim 1 at least three times between Sept. 1, 2015, and May 31, 2016, when he was 55 years old, according to charging documents in the criminal case prior to the lawsuit.

Watkins was Victim 1’s math teacher in seventh grade, and at that time, Victim 1 said he would always stare at her, according to court documents. Following that, in eighth grade, when Watkins was again her math teacher, he began to tell her she was cute and beautiful, and she began to spend more time alone with him in his classroom, the documents said.

This led to her sitting on his lap. Then they began to see each other before and after school every day, which then progressed to kissing and groping, and eventually oral sexual intercourse around 20 times in his classroom, the documents state. According to the documents, Victim 1 said this progressed for a short while into ninth grade when she began high school, but she does not remember if sexual assaults occurred then.

The documents state that when Victim 1 was a senior in high school, she revealed the sexual relationship to a Communities in Schools mentor during a meeting. The mentor then reported the disclosure to her boss, who in turn reported it to the Federal Way Public Schools administration. This report is what led to Watkins’ criminal charges.

According to the complaint, Victim 2 was a student at Totem Middle School from 2010 to 2013, in sixth through eighth grade, and she met Watkins during her seventh-grade year, when Watkins was her math teacher. Watkins would call Victim 2 inappropriate names, and then during private tutoring sessions, touch her shoulders, smell and play with her hair, fondle her breasts and squeeze her legs.

Documents state that these contacts occurred multiple times despite Victim 2 asking them to stop. In response, Watkins threatened to hit her with a piece of wood that he kept in his classroom if she told anyone about what had occurred.