MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — September 3, 2026 — A former Montgomery County Public Schools student has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Montgomery County Board of Education failed to protect him from former elementary school teacher Daniel J. Picca, despite repeated complaints, investigations, reprimands, and warnings concerning Picca’s conduct with male students.
The lawsuit was filed June 17, 2026, in the Circuit Court of Maryland for Montgomery County by Andreozzi + Foote on behalf of Nicholas Moon. It names the Montgomery County Board of Education and Picca as defendants.
Moon attended Kemp Mill Elementary School as a child and between approximately April 2007 and June 2008 was entrusted to the supervision of Picca. The lawsuit alleges that Picca cultivated a “special relationship” with Moon, using Moon’s interest in professional wrestling to facilitate private, individualized interactions. According to the complaint, Picca frequently isolated Moon from other students and school personnel for one-on-one interactions that served no legitimate educational purpose.
Picca allegedly directed Moon to remove his shirt and flex his muscles, and engaged him in physical wrestling activities and holds that involved unnecessary and inappropriate physical contact. The complaint further alleges that Picca subjected the child to unwanted physical contact, including massages and touching of his shoulders, back, chest, and torso. According to the lawsuit, this physical contact served no legitimate educational purpose and exceeded the boundaries of appropriate teacher-student interaction.
Documented 17-Year History of Complaints and Reprimands
Central to the lawsuit is the allegation that the Montgomery County Board of Education had been repeatedly warned about Picca’s pattern of inappropriate conduct with male students long before Moon became his student.
As reflected in the findings of the Maryland State Board of Education in Daniel Picca v. Montgomery County Board of Education, Case No. MSDE-BE-01-11-45289, school administrators had received complaints dating back to at least 1993 that Picca directed male students to remove their shirts, flex their muscles, sit on his lap, participate in wrestling activities, and engage in other inappropriate physical interactions with him.
In its opinion, the State Board described the events chronicled in Picca’s case as “shocking,” emphasizing that the conduct had occurred repeatedly over a period of 17 years.
“From the first complaint in October 1993, seventeen years passed with patterns repeated and reprimands issued,” the State Board wrote. “Yet this teacher was transferred to different elementary schools and remained in the classroom. That should never ever have occurred.”
The State Board also noted that Picca’s personnel record was “filled with reprimands and directives” that he did not follow and observed that each reprimand appeared to have been treated in isolation without reference to previous directives.
Picca had worked for Montgomery County Public Schools since 1985, first as an elementary school teacher at Candlewood Elementary School before transferring to Rachel Carson Elementary School in 1990. According to the Statement of the Case by an Administrative Law Judge, while at Rachel Carson, Picca engaged in misconduct involving male students that included having boys sit on his lap, directing them to remove their shirts, wrestling with them, photographing them, and feeling their muscles.
According to the lawsuit, school administrators, law enforcement authorities, Child Protective Services, Human Resources personnel, and other officials investigated concerns about Picca’s conduct. It further alleges that Picca received multiple written reprimands, directives, memoranda, and disciplinary actions over many years.
Despite those warnings, the lawsuit alleges, the Montgomery County Board of Education continued to employ Picca in positions that gave him direct access to children. The suit alleges that the Board knew or should have known that Picca posed a danger to students, based on earlier reports, and failed to exercise reasonable care to protect Moon.
“How was a teacher allowed to maintain access to children after years of complaints and warnings about his conduct with students?” Nathaniel Foote, partner at Andreozzi + Foote and an attorney for Moon, said. “The Maryland State Board of Education has itself questioned why Picca remained in classrooms for 17 years as patterns repeated and reprimands were issued. Our client deserved to be protected by the school system entrusted with his safety, and this lawsuit seeks accountability for its alleged failure to protect him.”
The lawsuit asserts claims against the Montgomery County Board of Education for negligent, grossly negligent, and reckless hiring, retention, and supervision, general negligence, and gross negligence and recklessness. It brings additional claims against Picca for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The lawsuit was filed pursuant to Maryland’s Child Victims Act. Moon seeks damages for emotional distress, psychological injury, pain and suffering, and other damages he alleges resulted from Picca’s conduct and the Board’s alleged failures to protect him.
Moon is represented by Nathaniel Foote and Kylie Tejera of Andreozzi + Foote.
About Andreozzi + Foote
Andreozzi + Foote is one of the nation’s leading sexual abuse law firms with a history of representing survivors in cases against large and powerful organizations including Penn State University, the Boy Scouts of America, and the Catholic Church. The trauma-informed sexual abuse lawyers at Andreozzi + Foote are committed to obtaining life-changing results for victims and their families.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Maria Smith
Andreozzi + Foote
4503 N Front St.
Harrisburg, PA 17110
Email: marias@vca.law
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Image source: Kemp Mill Elementary, via MCPS.
