Starboard Academy, a for-profit Plymouth preschool accused of misconduct, child neglect, and wage and hour law violations, has been sold to an education company looking to expand in Massachusetts.
The school – subject of several state investigations and a defendant in five pending lawsuits from parents of allegedly victimized children – will now get a clean slate on a state website.
The change in ownership means parents investigating the school’s history will no longer find state reports critical of the school on the Department of Early Education and Care’s website.
The disappearing reports criticized the school’s handling of allegations a teacher repeatedly screamed at toddlers in her care and handled them roughly, and another case in which a male teacher allegedly sent photos of his genitalia to female coworkers.
Founder and former owner Tonya Stump has strongly denied the allegations.
It is unclear whether Stump will be involved in the new venture. Her name no longer appears on the school’s website. Her daughter, and former co-owner Sydney Philibin, is now described on the website as vice president of administration and strategy.
In an emailed statement, the new owner, Stellar Education LLC, confirmed it “has acquired substantially all of the assets of Starboard Academy… and we are excited to continue serving families and expanding our presence in the Massachusetts area.
“Our focus is on supporting our school community through a smooth transition and ensuring continuity in high-quality care,” said the statement, signed by “Stellar Education Team.”
Stump owned three other preschools in addition to Starboard, which is in the Plymouth Industrial Park — two on Cape Cod and one in Marshfield.
All are changing hands, the email said.
There is little publicly available information about Stellar Education — though two company representatives are listed on state records at the address of a venture capital firm, Seacoast Capital, in Danvers.
Seacoast Capital partners declined comment, but on its website, Stellar Education is listed as a company in its investment portfolio.
The schools’ names have not changed except the word “Stellar” has been added. Starboard Academy in Plymouth, for example, will now be known as Starboard Academy Plymouth Stellar LLC.
Anyone looking for a licensed preschool will now find a perfect score on Starboard Academy in Plymouth’s pre-licensing inspection summary.
Scathing state investigative reports previously posted on the EEC’s online directory of licensed childcare providers disappeared when a license was issued to the new owner on Jan. 5.
“The program you are inquiring about, Starboard Academy, experienced a change in ownership near the end of 2025,” said Kim Le, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care.
“The public EEC Licensed Child Care Search only displays programs with an active license and information about the currently licensed providers including any non-compliances issued to them.”
The investigative reports remain available by public records request, she wrote.
Matthew Fogelman, the lawyer who filed the lawsuits on behalf of parents who sent their children to Starboard, said he believes the reports should not have been removed from EEC’s online directory.
“It is unfortunate that a simple corporate name change wipes out the ability for the public to obtain and view the EEC reports about Starboard.
“Those reports contain important information that the public and parents should be able to find without a wild-goose chase,” he wrote in an email to the Independent. “This seems to call for legislative intervention and/or a shift to the way EEC handles this internally. The public should have full access to reports.”
Just days before the change of ownership, Stump and Philibin settled a pay dispute with Attorney General Andrea Campbell by reimbursing 139 former employees the academy allegedly shortchanged.
In a December 29 agreement with Campbell, Stump and Philibin agreed to pay $83,000 to settle charges the company improperly withheld pay from employees who were quitting — an alleged violation of state wage and hour laws. The company claimed it was recouping the cost of training the workers.
In an emailed statement. Ben Michaelson, a lawyer for Stump and Philibin, said settling the dispute was a “business decision.”
“We denied and continue to deny any violation of the law. We agreed to the settlement as it was in the best interest of our organization and to ensure a smooth and timely transition of the schools to their new ownership,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, the five lawsuits, seeking unspecified money damages, have been slogging their way through the courts.
On January 13, Plymouth Superior Court Judge Joseph Leighton, citing “unnecessarily contentious litigation,” ordered the appointment of an outside discovery master to sort out the various disputes among the parties.
Three of the suits were filed in September 2024 and two more were filed in January 2025.
All five allege children were traumatized by former teacher Jessica Taylor, who allegedly flipped one child on a nap cot, and told another — “shut the f-up,” one of the lawsuits alleges.
Taylor’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. When interviewed by state investigators in 2024, she denied being physically aggressive with children.
The first lawsuits were filed a few months after the state’s EEC – which oversees 9,000 programs for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers – issued a scathing report on Taylor’s alleged misconduct in May 2024.
The agency launched the investigation in April 2024 after a teacher reported seeing Taylor pick up a toddler lying awake on a nap cot and slamming the child down face first.
The child let out a huge screech and began to cry, the witness told investigators. The teacher allegedly shoved the child’s head into the cot, “shaking (the child) in an aggressive manner,” the teacher said.
The teacher told investigators she was in tears when she reported the incident to Stump, who seemed to “brush it off” and chalk it up to the fact Taylor was pregnant, the lawsuits allege.
Stump told investigators she was not made aware of the misconduct when it allegedly happened, according to the EEC report.
In its 13-page report issued on May 20, EEC investigators found the school failed to comply with 11 state regulations, including one prohibiting abuse or neglect, and another requiring schools to report incidents promptly to parents.
According to the lawsuits, the children suffered a range of behavioral issues such as night terrors and uncontrollable crying after being “exposed to the hostile, negative environment in (Taylor’s) classroom.”
Complaints about another teacher surfaced in another state report issued in November 2024.
An investigator found Starboard’s owners “immediately dismissed” allegations that a male teacher repeatedly touched a female colleague in front of children and sent explicit photos of his genitals to co-workers, the report alleges.
“The program used terminology and actions to silence employees,” the EEC report said, adding that the employees described their experience with the school’s leaders as “gaslighting”.
“The program was less than forthcoming during the investigation and provided countless misleading and false statements…” wrote the Department of Early Education and Care investigator in the report.
Stump objected to the state reports calling them “inaccurate” and said they “failed to meet regulatory standards,” the state report said.
Now, with new owners, former parents and teachers say they hope the school can fulfill its mission, once described on its website, as providing “the ultimate quality of care to our millennial families.”
“I would feel tremendously relieved for Starboard to be a safe option for Plymouth-area families,” said one parent, whose three children attended Starboard.
“I hope new ownership would acknowledge the damage that’s been done and work hard to re-establish trust that’s been eviscerated in the community these past few years.”
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.