A former Aberdeen High School principal, fired for allegedly failing to report a rape, is one step closer to potentially getting her job back.

Criminal charges against Regina Jones were dropped in January. Jones was terminated along with paraeducator Tanya Johnson in 2024.

Jones and Johnson were accused of failing to make a report when they learned a 17-year-old boy allegedly raped an Aberdeen student.

Jones had tried to get her job back by settling the matter out of court with an arbitrator, but the arbitrator ruled against her, saying Jones was legally obligated to report the rape.

On Friday, Harford County Circuit Court Judge Paul Ishak reversed the arbitrator’s ruling, writing that the arbitrator had overstepped his authority. The case will now be heard by a different arbitrator.

Ishak said Jones was not obligated to report the rape because the suspect was a student, not a relative or someone else who “had authority over the child.”

He noted in the ruling that the Aberdeen student “was raped by a student from another school on April 12, 2023 in a park in the evening after school.”

Jones’ attorney, Tom Dolina, called Friday’s decision “a vindication,” and said it is unusual to get a ruling that overturns an arbitrator’s argument.

Ishak blasted the arbitrator, saying he “tripled … and quadrupled down on the argument” that Jones was obligated to report the rape to the school system, as well as to the police.

Jones and Johnson learned of the rape April 13, 2023, but did not report it, according to the school system’s original allegations. Police only learned of it five days later, after they were sent to the former Harford Memorial Hospital for the report of a rape.

Have a news tip? Contact Bryna Zumer at bzumer@baltsun.com, or on X as @brynazumer.