Talawanda teachers show up in force as board calls for more civility; public comment sparks IT response and police report

More than 200 members of the public, many of them teachers, attended the Talawanda Board of Education’s most recent meeting May 15, the biggest crowd in the past year.

The district has been rocked by controversy this school year, from board member Dawn King calling for the superintendent’s resignation last June to an administrator being put on paid leave for alleged “inappropriate conduct” this month. Matt Lykins, co-president of the teachers’ union at Talawanda, received a standing ovation during public comment after describing how teachers have coped with tensions at a board level.

Teachers have regularly spoken about the positive activities in their buildings during board meetings since last November when one high school teacher was placed on administrative leave for making political videos on social media. The intent was to “challenge the distractions and stunts” that have taken the board’s focus away from education, Lykins said.

“I can stand up and say that this negativity is being fostered by one board member in particular, whose political agenda has already harmed children, created a breach of trust with staff and instilled the feeling we are being subjected to a vindictive witch hunt perpetuated by others’ performative outrage on social media and fueled by accusations dressed up to look like concern,” Lykins said. “But I'm not going to say that, because even through all the gains and distractions of the Google Calendar issue and Facebook posts associated with it, we teachers continue to do our jobs and make good things happen.”

Last December, King’s husband, Scotty King, revealed during a public meeting that many staff members’ Google Calendars were open to anyone with a Talawanda account, including attachments with sensitive student information. A subsequent investigation by a cybersecurity firm found that Dawn King’s account was used to access sensitive records days before the issue was made public by her husband, and she was censured last month. King maintains that the board’s policy governing technology use granted her the right to look at all documents uploaded to district software to conduct oversight as a board member.

Lykins also referenced a recent allegation of inappropriate conduct by a district administrator, which he said had been “seized on” by people who have a desire to “watch [the district] burn.” A parent filed a police report regarding alleged inappropriate conduct between the administrator and the parent’s child on April 30, and the administrator was placed on leave on May 1, pending an investigation.

As of May 15, an investigation by the Oxford Police Department is ongoing. The district already had a no trespassing order against the parent, who is facing a menacing charge in court for an alleged December incident against the administrator. That case goes to trial in June.

In a heavily redacted email obtained through a public records request, the parent wrote to school board members on May 1 that they were calling for “swift and decisive action.” The Oxford Free Press is not identifying the administrator by name because no charges have been filed. The parent has not spoken at public meetings, and the Free Press does not generally identify suspects by name in criminal cases unless they are facing felony charges.

One member of the public accused the district of lying to staff by writing that the administrator was out sick. No board members or district officials discussed the investigation during the meeting.

District files police report after Scotty King raises security concern

During public comment, Scotty King said he was concerned that the district’s formula for generating student ID numbers and passwords was easily hackable.

Following the board meeting, the district’s Information Technology department shut down all student and staff accounts “in an overabundance of caution,” Superintendent Ed Theroux wrote in an email to parents and staff the day after the meeting. The district created new logins for students and staff on May 16, a process which Theroux wrote would cause issues into next week.

During the meeting, King provided what he said was the formula used to generate student passwords, which he called “alarmingly easy to hack” through brute force techniques. While the formula was not entirely accurate, Theroux wrote, the district was “greatly concerned that any person/community member would attempt to break district security systems, and even more concerned that someone would theorize publicly how one might do so.” District communications director Holli Hansel confirmed that the IT staff worked through the night May 15 into May 16 to restore the systems with new usernames and passwords prior to the start of the school day.

Theroux wrote in his statement that King did not contact any administrators regarding his concerns, but King said during public comment that he had emailed board members Pat Meade and Matt Wyatt — both of whom have publicly sparred with Dawn King — about the issue the morning before the board meeting.

“Unauthorized access to sensitive data like grades and personal information can be disruptive throughout our school and harm our community,” King said during the meeting. “... We must act swiftly to protect our students and staff.”

Scotty King subject of no contact resolution; board members call for more civility

Later in the meeting, the board voted 4-1 to pass a no contact resolution against Scotty King after board president Rebecca Howard alleged that he tried to step on a board member’s heel to trip him after last month’s board meeting.

Under the resolution, King is not permitted to “approach or engage any board member, board employee or board representative before, during … or after any board meeting,” excluding his right to make a statement up to three minutes long during public comment. The resolution directs him to wait until the start time of board meetings to enter the building but he is allowed in early to sign in for public comment. King must “immediately exit district premises” after board meetings. He is still allowed to email board members and district employees.

The restrictions apply any time Scotty King is on district premises or at district-sponsored activities. The resolution excludes communication with Dawn King in a personal capacity. 

Dawn King voted against the resolution but suggested that board members should refrain from directly naming audience members at public meetings in the future. Last month, board member Pat Meade referred to Scotty King directly.

“If you don’t want to be approached after a meeting, don’t call people out while you speak on the stage,” King said. “I think that that’s something that needs to be considered, too.”

Meade apologized for calling Scotty King out directly but added that board members shouldn’t refer to their colleagues as fools. Dawn King used that term at a January meeting, and last month Matt Wyatt referred to members of the public as “trifling,” “halfwits” and “fools,” language former school board candidate Mendy Napier called out during public comment this month.

Wyatt defended his comments last month, saying he didn’t call out anyone by name but if they reached out feeling he was referring to them, “I can’t answer that.” He added that board members should avoid talking over each other at future meetings, another issue that came up during last month’s heated meeting.

“I would hope we can all just turn the temperature down,” Howard said. “Let’s behave a little more professionally and focus on the business of the district. We’ve really veered from that too much, and we need to get back to that.”

The board is set to meet for a special session at 5 p.m. May 19 to discuss its five-year forecast. Talawanda High School’s graduation is set for 6:30 p.m. May 22 at the Marvin Wilhelm Athletic Conference and is open to the public unless the event moves inside due to weather conditions.