Richard Montgomery High School Principal Moreno Carrasco, currently under investigation by the school district for running a side consulting business on school days with allegedly plagiarized materials, is on indefinite sick leave for an unspecified illness.

“Mr. Carrasco also wishes to thank everyone for their support and trust in his leadership at our school,” Veronica McCall, now the acting principal at Richard Montgomery, wrote in an e-mail announcing the move to parents and students.

Superintendent Jerry Weast’s spokesman, Brian Edwards, said he knew nothing of Carrasco’s leave and would not comment on the district’s pending investigation.

The e-mail came a week and a half after Carrasco shut down Savetheprincipal.com, the Web site for a consulting business he started in October 2006.

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Late last week, it was revealed that lawyers for a Florida-based consulting company, the Breakthrough Coach, were looking into Carrasco’s operation because of stark similarities it bore to their own.

Weast is “very concerned about the allegations and has directed his staff to thoroughly investigate the situation and take appropriate measures,” Edwards said, adding “we don’t put timetables on investigations.”

Presentations Carrasco gave around the district did not raise red flags for the administration, Edwards said. “He was conducting seminars for his colleagues. Staff teach seminars all the time.”

A spring 2007 breakout session at Maryland’s Association of Secondary School Principals conference included Carrasco’s “Breakthrough Principal” seminar, co-hosted with acting Principal McCall.

“My reading was that he was doing it as part of the [Breakthrough Coach] people and getting paid,” said Gene Streagle, a former administrator in the Howard County schools and executive director of the association. “Obviously, I was wrong.”

Carrasco’s presentation to the association was voluntary, Streagle said.

“We didn’t know it was going on,” Weast’s spokesman said. “How can you know what you don’t know?”

lfabel@dcexaminer.com