001How you guys? All right. Good evening everyone. We got 6:00. Go ahead and call this special board meeting to order. We're here to as a board to hear the concerns of parents invite me to students. There will be no comments this evening on personnel items. But uh before we get started here, call the role. Mr. Would you please call the roll? >> Okay. Daniel Bray >> here. >> Ava Coleman >> present. >> Chip Moore here. >> L Daniel. >> Dana Tony >> here. >> Lauren Martin >> here. >> Lauren Walker >> here. >> Thank you very much. If you all will join me as we stand for a moment of silence followed by the pledge. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and
002to the republic for it stands nationy and justice for all. >> All right, we're going to open it up with a few comments about Dr. OA. start us off even >> board. Good evening audience. Um, first of all, and I sent this uh email uh recently this week. Um, on behalf of myself and our team, we do understand that there were a lot of concerns about the timeline uh of notification. I understand that. I understand the concerns and we have started to make adjustments. Can you hear me now? Adjustments to that based upon that. I want to be clear that it was not to hide any information from any of our parents. When we started this process, uh when we were notified October 16th, we immediately wanted to address the parents, meet with the parents
003who were had students who were directly impacted based on the information we were given. And then the investigation process started. Then we wanted to make sure we were working with Palaska County Sheriff's Department and ensuring their investigation. Uh we were being compliant with their investigation as well as the Department of Human Services and that nothing that we did impeded that investigation. We continued to talk back and forth at our district office when and how we should communicate with families as a as a whole. It was not to not tell you, not to share any information, but also to make sure that we were adhering to the safety [snorts] and the furer laws that we had to follow as far as uh with our young people, but as well as protecting the families that we were
004being meet that we were meeting with as well as the personnel issues. And so I wanted to be clear on why we waited to share that. I do understand and completely sincerely understand the concern about the timeline and we have adjusted that and ensured that we will not take that long take that length of time to notify our parents moving forward. When we share information, we will be clear that the information is limited and that we will continue to update our families as the information is given to us. But we want you all to understand and all of our parents in the district that when we start sharing that updated communication plan that our communication plan, we won't have all the information at that time. But we do understand that our parents want to be
005un be notified at the very beginning and that's our commitment. When we looked at the evidence and the situation that was taking place, a lot of the incident in fact all of the incidents happened in the cafeteria and as my letter shared with you that's the reason why we enhanced the administrative uh presence the monitoring of our CSSO of what was happening in the cafeteria. And I also want to be clear that our teachers in the hallway, in the classrooms, our staff members were always being proactive. And that's the reason, one of the reasons, if not the main reason we found out about this issue, so that we could address it as soon as we could when we found out about it. And they continue to do that. We also took measures of retraining our
006staff members so that they understand that no matter if the situation's suspicious. If they're concerned, we report it and then let our Department of Human Services partners investigate it from that point forward. uh and we report it immediately and we also make sure that Palaski County Sheriff Department since those since they have the jurisdiction here in this area that they also are notified as soon as possible. We have just to also update you with additional information. I've been in contact with I've received some information from parents about more detailed background checks. All of our background checks from the state level, federal level, and the child maltreatment level all come through the state department of education. But because of the concerns we receive from our parents, I did reach out to them to see even if
007these are non-convicted issues, how can we found out more about it? Uh find more information about previous uh situations that occurred that were not convictions. And I I received an answer today and it was because and the answer was that based on confidentiality they still had to follow the state federal and childbound treatment process but uh the applicants could divulge but they could the state department could not share any more information with us. What we get if the state background check clears, if the federal background check clears, if the child maltreatment uh registry check clear, we get an approved employability uh record so that they tell us that we can move forward with the employment. If something comes up on one of those checks, child malt treatment, uh, federal or state, then we receive immediate
008notification either, uh, I get it through email and I also get it through official certified mail that this particular person uh, is not employable in any district. And so those are the informations that we received from them. I also reached out to our educational cooperative and a crisis center uh for our state department. They're going to provide additional counselors and therapists uh uh our care our partner health center partner will provide uh therapists for our scholars as well as our staff members as we move through this situation. So I wanted to bring that your to your attention and to provide that oversight for you at this time. Thank you, sir. >> All right. And we also have with us this evening our attorney, Mr. Scott Richardson, and we've asked him to kind of give some
009background rules that we need to follow as far as communication investigations. Certainly, it's good to see everybody here. Generally, our guidance to districts, this is most lawyers who work with education and work with school districts. So be very careful in your comments when there's a personnel matter because the personnel the staff will have privacy rights that you need to respect. Um so we generally don't disclose anything that is uh part of an ongoing personnel issue or things that in the terms of the Freedom of Information Act would constitute it clearly as warranted invasion of personal privacy. So the district has to respect those things. In a situation like this where there is criminal charges pending, there's a DHS investigation, a sheriff's office has investigated, the prosecutor's office uh may also be looking at the matter.
010We want to be careful that no public comments impact or impede those investigations or if there's a prosecution later on. We don't want to make any comments that could cause a problem in that prosecution later on. In addition, in a situation like this where there are students involved, Dr. mentioned FERPA, which is an acronym for the Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. And it provides that for all of you who have students in school, the district cannot release information about your children that they hold except under very specific circumstances. So, we can't release video that shows students just out to the public. We we have to be very careful about student records or any statements that we might have about individual students. We can't release personally identifiable information on about students and that includes
011the public comment. So the district has to be very careful with all of those things primarily. Uh those are all meant to support the students and to be careful about everyone's rights who are involved in the event. That would also cover this meeting tonight. Any comments that board officers may want to offer at some point. They would have to be mindful of all those laws and what the effect their words might have on the things that are coming down the road. All right. Thank you very much, sir. Um, so now we're going to open up the floor for public comments. This is a designated time for community members to share their thoughts on this matter before the board. We welcome and appreciate your input and ask you to speak respectfully and professionally. Please refrain from
012making statements about individual students or district staff members. Uh the board only considers such matters upon recommendation from the superintendent. Uh your comments will be recorded for the official minutes. Excuse me. Uh, while we value your perspectives, please note that the opinions shared during public comment do not necessarily reflect the views of the board. Public comment is for input, not debate. So, if there's a reason for some brief factual clarification, we may offer that. Uh, but it's not a back and forth. It is public comment. And your time limit will be 3 minutes. We will have a timer, and I'll ask you to respect that time. We do have quite a few signed up to speak. Um, so I'll call you to the uh to the microphone if you'll state your name and then once
013you state your name, your time will begin. >> Okay. So, first up, I've got Elizabeth S. >> Yeah. >> Can y'all in the back here? I know that air handler is pretty loud. >> Let me turn. Go ahead and talk a little bit. Can you hear me? >> Can you hear me? >> No. >> Okay. Okay. My name is Elizabeth Sis. I am the parent of two scholars. I'm very concerned with the timeline. Um I'm also very concerned with the fact that we review two weeks of we identified three in two weeks of that leads me to believe that there are more students involved. We have had more students, more parents say that they filed the police reports following us getting a date and being able to show a picture to our children. I spoke
014to my children on Friday after getting a big email. I didn't get much out of my talked to my on Monday with a mug shot and said, "What can you tell me about Mr. Harold?" I got totally different information by being able to show my kid and ask for the name. I'm more concerned that there are more victims out here and the timeline did not allow those victims to be able to be identified and I'm worried that we're going to have more kids come out with. He worked for two years. We got two weeks of footage. It's not enough. That's concerning. I have a little girl. If it had been my child, I would not be able to remain this calm and speak to you all this way. And I know a lot of parents
015feel that way. There are there are babies. We trust all of them. The board. We trust our staff. And mind you, I have full faith in our staff. We love our staff. We love them. They love our kids. It's important that we get that communication so we have ample time to talk to our own kids and verify that nothing happened to them, too. My kids thought Mr. Harold was a wonderful mess. But when I got more details about how he was messing with the kids in the lunchroom, it's concerning. Why did nobody say, "Hey, can you stop touching the kids? Can you get James on? Can we go to the office and talk to the principal about what they're saying here? I don't know what the process or the policy is for that obviously, but
016there's got to be something. There's got to see something, say something. We We cannot let our kids be vulnerable. They are vulnerable when they're away from their parents. And we charge staff here to protect them and keep them safe. I know this can happen anywhere. I know people slip through the cracks. I know if you're only checking conviction, people can get lucky in courts all day and not get convicted. It happens all the time. But they got arrested for a reason. Are we checking arrest records, too? >> We will we will take your input. We'll take some notes. We will at the very end we will try to make some comments and get some clarification. And if we and if we don't have the answer or don't know the answer, we will give the answer
017to you if it's not. >> All right. Next, I have Kristen St. Clair. >> Can you hear me? >> And and I think it helps if you speak right into the microphone and speak loud for the people in the back. That air handler is really loud back there. >> Okay. >> I have already asked. It's controlled somewhere else. >> Okay. My name is Christian Sinclair. I'm the parent of a second grade student, a girl here at IU. The district stated that the delay was not was to not impede the ongoing investigation. However, the sheriff's department let me know the investigation was officially closed November 3rd. And I confirmed that twice with Detective. And that y'all were never legally unable to contact parents. And I don't mean all the details. I don't even mean telling me
018the crime, but a phone call saying an employee has been arrested at the school your child works at something, anything, anything other than that vague email. That email was an insult. And this contradiction, it suggests a deliberate hiding of what's going on. We have no other option but to leave the Pali County Sheriff's Office and to think that you're hiding something. I mean, there's just no way around it. We as parents, we receive phone calls, text messages, emails for every holiday, school event, um the school closure for any reason, inclement weather. We got a vague email. I don't check my email 24/7. I work a lot and I work somewhere there's no signal. I didn't get a phone call that made me think, "Oh, that that number, that 241 number, that's the school. I didn't
019get a text. I get those things for everything." I want to know what the reason was, why I didn't get those alongside the email. And I also want to know why we're keeping it by data, not the entire district. As if the entire district doesn't need just a reminder to look into your policies and your people. We demand more. We demand more than apologies and vague statements. We demand transparent and auditable records of the mandated training, the security protocols, and administrative presence that has been implemented recently. We demand a formal investigation into the decision-m process that resulted in a 50-day delay in notification to parents and for those responsible to be held accountable. That's 50 days I couldn't ask my second grade white daughter if she had any issue with him, which she didn't. And
020let's all be thankful for that. But she immediately before I pulled out of the parking lot the day that I took her out of school after finding out told me exactly who the victim was. >> Two months she remembers. In two months they'll they'll still remember. Why did they have to suffer in silence for 50 days? There are more victims. The investigation isn't ongoing. It's just not. I talked to Detective Singleton. Anything that's being investigated is new based on new reports. The reports that came after a social media post alerted parents that a little girl was sexually assaulted in their school. Imagine if that was your situation. Imagine if you're standing on my side just begging to be heard and you keep getting vague emails. This is a failure at a district level. Our administrators
021failed our children, our parents, five unit faculty and staff, the victims and their support systems. The victims couldn't just walk around here and talk about it. And you made sure of that. [applause] Next, I've got Jessica Walker Cox. Good evening. My name is Jessica and I'm the parent of the child who was sexually assaulted by a previous employee up school district. I had a lot of this typed out and I don't even uh now that I've heard a couple things, I don't even think I can go off of this. um my biggest concern in all of this that's happened is the fact that I feel like a lot of fingers have been pointed in the wrong direction in this situation. I've been part of this since day one. On October 17th, I received a phone
022call from district leaders to let me know that my child had been sexually assaulted by a male employee at her school. Thankfully, the district did act quickly when I requested the video footage, and I was able to see it within 24 hours of requesting it. I was given three videos to see that involved my child. Later in the investigation, my daughter and I went to the Child Protection Center in Jacksonville where we were able to meet our detective along with a state police officer who had previously came to the school and requested that my child be pulled out of class without any notification as her parent. The only person who felt the need to notify me was the assistant principal. don't even know if he's allowed to do that, but he parent felt that I
023deserved to know that there was someone here in this building to talk to my child. [applause] As I was at the child protection center, I learned from the detective that there were actually eight videos that involved my child, not only three. I do understand that the system here at Bido and the recordings only go back so far, and I understand that there are other within the district that can go back further into video recordings. That information should have been made known to us, not through the detective, through the school district. In the November Jacksonville North Palaskki school district board meeting agenda, the very last page, 172 pages, you got to go all the way to the end, stated that an employee had been terminated for supervision of students. Custodians are not required to supervise students.
024They are in this lunchroom to help them pick up their trash, open a lunchable at the most. They are not in here as a supervisor. Okay. The reason this man was fired is because he sexually assaulted my child eight different times, not because he was supervising these students. He stood at this lunch table behind her seat every single day and waited for her to sit down so that he could put his hands on her. That should have been the reason he was terminated. I have a lot more to say and I understand that we only have so much time, but what I want anyone to hear out of this meeting is the fact that the people responsible for this are not the people who have been pushed out of this building. The people responsible for
025this are [applause] the people who allowed this man to ever be hired. When I went to see the video footage, I was given a police report that had every minor's name in it, not redacted. My child included. My child's name had been released, not just to me. Okay? So, as we go forward with this, I just want to be clear, the people responsible for this are the people who allowed him to stay on this staff. Okay? This has nothing to do with people who who were in this building. Um, the person who gave me a police report with minor names in it is also at fault in this. Okay. And obviously the predator himself. So, at this moment, I just want it to be known that there's a lot of information that is still to
026uncover, and I think that it should not be acted on quickly if any termination or forced resignation should happen until all of the details come out. [applause] Mr. Cox, thanks. Good evening. My name is Nathan Cox and I am the father of essential sexually assault. >> Can you hear me now? >> I'll for you right here. Is that good? >> Okay. My name is Nathan Cox and I'm the father of the sexually assaulted. Uh good evening members of the board, staff and community. Thank you for this opportunity to speak here today. Um I'm here today because this community has deeply been deeply shaken by the recent case of sexual assault. First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with all the other students and families affected. No child should ever be harmed in a place
027that is meant to nurture and protect our kids. Nor should we as parents have to worry about the safety of our children while they're in school and we are at work. While we cannot change what has already happened, we can take responsibility for preventing anything like this from happening again. To do that, I encourage we must implement more strict and thorough hiring criteria. This includes rigorous background checks, stronger verification of previous employment, deeper reference evaluations, and enhanced screening protocols for behavioral red flags. I know y'all touched on this before we started talking. So, [snorts] however, stronger hiring practices alone are not enough. Recent events and security footage have also highlighted concerns about insufficient adult presence and awareness during the less structured times of school day, particularly during lunch. These periods, while seemingly routine, require more
028supervision. That's just it. Unfortunately, this is not due to the students being too loud or too rowdy. But this is due to the hiring of this particular untrustworthy staff member. I believe increasing staff visibility, improving monitoring protocols, and ensuring clear accountability during these times are necessary steps to create a safer environment for all students. Our schools must ensure the highest standards of safety, professionalism, and accountability. Strengthening both our hiring protocols and our supervision practices is not an administrative burden. It is a vital investment in the tr and in the trust families place in us. I urge the board to prioritize these changes immediately. The safety of our students must always come before convenience, cost, and tradition. Let's take decisive action so that every family in our community knows their children are safe and protected. Thank
029you. [applause] You want to go next or you want to go last? >> Okay. All right. Um, Alex Johnson. >> My name is Alan Johnson. >> Y'all can hear me. Okay. My name is Alan Johnston. My children went to this school until this year. Last year, uh, one of my special needs children actually started going to the middle school. [clears throat] This individual was around my special needs child at some point in time. More victims will be in the middle school if this was an ongoing thing. I took my kids out of here for various reasons. One including lack of communication, lack of taking initiative and making decisions. being told that I don't understand my own children. If you're looking for a fault, look at the school. Everybody does that, right? That's not necessarily right.
030Every teacher is told who their students are. Every parent is told who their teachers are. Custodial staff is often overlooked. We want to know who's around our children at all times. That's teachers. That's c uh c custodians. That's lunch ladies and men. But we we can't tell who these people are. We don't see them on a day-to-day basis. Our [clears throat] children do. Nobody tells us who these people are. I, for one, have run a background check on all of my former teachers. I know if they have any kind of criminal history or background. I use an app called Truthfinder. It's great. Something for the school to look into. If a if a principal or any other member of staff would have looked this person up, I looked him up and in 30 seconds I
031had a complete background with him, including his former criminal history. That is not an oversight. That is negligence. [applause] Tracy Myers. Am I saying that right? NY. Uh, Alyssa Reyes. >> Good evening. My name is Alyssa Reyes. I I really honestly could not have too much to add as a sis and St. Clair really hit home and covered very well what I do believe to be mine and most everybody I've even seen on social media's concerns and I do understand your your point somewhat as saying you know about the timeline you know why things were not released as they were how we felt below you know for impeding investigation But when we think of it in a sense as parents and us that have daughters in this school, it could have been impeding finding out
032and getting support to other possible victims if we don't know to ask our children. And I I know that there are so many ways that gets to us as parents because I get communication from the schools and the school district. things I have nothing to even do with my children for certain sporting events or whatever. But this did not come through to me until after I seen it on social media. I received an email probably 30 minutes after I seen the very first thing posted on social media. And when I went to ask my child about this, this is what concern me too, how well are we watching people around our children? Are I and I'm not saying I do not trust all the staff? I I have had some issues in the past with
033staff and whether I believe things were done right or wrong, but it's separate issue. But I feel like this goes even above and beyond that we trust our children more hours of their waking day with the people in here. And when I find out from my child and say, "Hey, has anybody ever touched you or made you feel uncomfortable at school?" And her very first word was the janitor with the dark hair. And I said, "Did he ever do something to you?" and she said, "Not me. He's really, really nice and tries to play around with us, but my friend's scared of him." Now, I'm wondering why because my daughter doesn't know why. Does her friends parents know that she's scared of him. If we would have received this news sooner, there might not be
034other little girls that may be sitting with this information because they're scared to tell. So, Like I said, I don't have too much more to add because I do believe that they they pretty much drove that home. But I just But just to reiterate that, [applause] >> Miss Teresa Cook, >> there's nothing funny about it. I'm glad you think it's fun. >> I'd like to start out by saying my granddaughter's eight years old, a third grader at Meadow was six years old and a first grader two years ago when this man was hired. There's no way in a two week video uh look at that you can tell me that there weren't other victims. And if you made a mistake of thinking about the other children, that is on you. And every single one of
035you on this board need to own it. I don't have time to worry about your personal relationships, business partnerships, or friendships. [applause] Principal Lindsay Jones has since resigned, but the problems here go far beyond one administrator. Serious questions remain about hiring practices, delayed reporting, delayed reporting. Why this individual was allowed around students after a complaint? [clears throat] Why parents weren't notified immediately? Relationships within district leadership have also created the appearance of conflicts of interest. Whether intented or not, this has damaged public confidence of the board. All of you, every single one of you. I'm asking for the following. Full transparency about the timeline of events. Complete review and overhaul of hiring and background check procedures. mandatory and immediate reporting to both the child abuse hotline and parents whenever allegations involve student safety because he worked
036at Edwards and ran over and hugged a 5-year-old black child and y'all want to act like it's only white kids. It's all our kids. I'm standing up here for all of these kids. All of these kids are important. THE ONES YOU KNEW ABOUT IN two weeks. So he just didn't do nothing for two years and all of a sudden just touched these three little girls. Shame, shame, shame, [applause] shame, shame, shame. Shame, shame, shame. You want to talk crazy to me and I'm a grandparent. My granddaughter was affected by this. Her friend, Mr. Harold is a pedophile and I had to explain that to her and to watch out for her friends cuz the adults around her were not. And you couldn't even come up with a measly paragraph for my granddaughter's teacher to answer
037me back when I asked her what's going on. I don't care if I'm hurting your ears. My heart is hurting. I haven't slept for two days. Shame on all of you. And this is not over. And I'm gonna work hard to make sure this board dismantles Teresa Cook. [applause] [applause] All right. Next, we've got Shai Smith. Good afternoon. Okay, I can be loud, too. Okay. Well, my name is Shai Whitney Smith. My name is kind of contrary to my personality. I'm a mother of a first grade student here and a fifth grader here at BU who been in this district for almost two years. Both of them are girls. Um, there have been instances where I've had to communicate my feelings on a particular subject matter uh regarding my kids. So, I'm no stranger to
038advocating for children. Um, I'll skip this part because I'm pretty sure we all know why we're here tonight. Um, the report specified that the victims identified so far were white. As a mother of two black daughters, I'm still very deeply concerned because predators don't stop at race. And safety should never depend on who or what a child is. What troubles me, just like I'm pretty sure it affected everyone else just as much as the incident itself, of course, is how long it took for administration to report it. I will first mention um I will first mention that the principal did make me feel welcome when my kids did start school here. I was very uneasy about the start of school. He always greeted us with a smile, but however, it made me a little bit
039uneasy seeing how long, of course, it took for the message to get out and how fake the emails were. Um, when someone is seen doing what their employee was doing to these babies, that's not something you wait on. It's not something you handle quietly. That should be reported immediately, and parents should not be the last to know. We trust this school with our babies every single day. that trust was broken and now we need reassurance that will be rebuilt. So tonight I'm asking the board for these three things. Accountability for the delay in reporting the incident, clear protocol so that any future misconduct is reported immediately without any delays or hesitation. And third, real communication with parents because silence puts children at risk. My daughters deserve safety. All of our children deserve safety. And we
040need to know that when something happens on this campus, that those that are present will act fast and appropriately every single time. Also, to the parents of the children and families of the children who were affected by this, um my heart is with you. And I just pray that our kids can come to school and feel good about Thank [applause] you. >> All right. Next, we got Lindsay Jones. >> [applause] >> I'll let you go ahead. All right. Uh, let's go. Camille. Walmart. Walmart. Sorry. >> Walmart. It's okay. >> Good evening. I'm here tonight as a parent who disappointed, angry, and I'm here tonight as a parent who is disappointed, angry, and honestly scared. What happened at Bayumito isn't just an incident. It's a betrayal of trust. The way the district handled this has left
041families like mine wondering if our kids are truly safe in your care. So, tonight, we want clear answers. What are you doing to find out if other children were harmed before October 6th? What's the plan if something like this happens again? And a clear plan exactly step by step what is to happen if this were to happen again? Who made the decision to keep parents in the dark? Why and what is being done about that? Why did Miss Jones resign? Was it or was it not directly related to this incident? What exactly or excuse me, when exactly was he removed from the building? Because it's very unclear. And is the district planning to expand surveillance storage so more footage is available for review when it matters? This should have been handled differently. The moment the
042teacher reported, parents should have been notified. The moment the principal saw that photo, parents should have been notified. The moment the arrest took place, parents should have been notified. Every step of the way, we should have been kept in the loop. Instead, we got sirens. We got a vague email months after the incident. We got secrecy. And now the trust between parents and the district is broken. We are not [applause] here for spin. We're not here for vague statements. We are here for answers, accountability, and a commitment that this will never happen again. Thank you. [applause] Go ahead and ask for a answer to one of those questions of when custodian was removed from the building. Yes, he was removed. Um, he was notified October 16th to report uh first thing to the office and
043he was put on on administrative on administrative leave October 17th um following the recommendation for termination that was presented to the board in the November board meeting. >> The administration found out about it on the 16th after hours. He was never back in the school after that. Correct. >> That's correct. He was he was paid. Um he was placed. >> We're trying to answer that question. All right. We're going to This is This is why we don't go back and forth, but finish this answer. He was placed on admin paid administrative leave pending the recommendation for termination and he was terminated November 3rd which ended his pay. Thank you. All right. Next we've got Abigail Troyer. I'm a sister of a student here. >> You pull that mic off. >> Speak right into it. >>
044I am the older sister of a student. a first grader. I am also someone who has been sexually assaulted on school property. Not here, not in this district, not by a staff member, but on property nonetheless, by a classmate I considered a friend in the middle of classes under the table and in the hallway the norm was around. I know what kind of hindrance those experiences can put on a student's ability to learn and focus on school. When it finally got brought to the attention of the SRO in the building, it still wasn't handled well. Now, I could have and probably should have said something to address adults sooner, but I was embarrassed as many kids, especially younger kids are. However, when I when a friend brought it to the attention of the staff and
045it was time for me to make a statement, the school didn't really do anything. Not as much as they could have. The kid who did it to me wasn't even so much as talk to about it. I say all of this to point out that I know firsthand how frustrating and demeaning it can be when a school doesn't handle these types of situations properly to the best of their abilities. As a result, I changed high schools to an alternative school that put less pressure on me and gave me a chance to work on my mental health as well as work towards my degree since the school I was assaulted at wouldn't even take action to keep the student who hurt me out of my classes. I was close against all odds. By the end of
046junior year, I was on track to graduate within the first month of being senior with an honors degree. But then some unfortunate events occurred in my family, causing me to have to move. When I moved, none of the credits I had earned at the alternative school I took were being accepted by the schools here. I'm almost 20 and I still haven't graduated. Had the schools handled the situation better and fixed my schedule to not have any classes with that student, which I feel is the bare minimum. I wouldn't have had to change schools and my credits would have transferred. It is so important for schools to handle tough and appropriate situations in ways that best support the students and families involved for so many reasons. When all this happened to me, I was a teenager.
047These elementary kids are often too young to even understand what's happening. They don't understand that it shouldn't be happening. They don't understand that they need to tell their parents or trust. They just feel that uncomfortable feeling, but they don't say anything because they are taught to trust and listen to the staff and teachers at their school. I can't imagine what those poor kids went through and will continue to go through emotionally while trying to understand what happened. And this doesn't just apply to little girls. We need to protect all of our children regardless of race or gender. I hope that you as a school and district learn from this. And God forbid anything like this ever happen again and be handled properly. Before I'm finished, I would like to thank the staff member who reported
048the offender. Had you not done that, who knows how much longer it would have gone on for. I hope you as a school do better. [applause] [applause] >> Next, I've got Carol Williams. Hello. Good evening. Um, I would first like to say that I pay a lot of taxes and I don't understand why that's not enough to keep those videos running and keep those videos for at least a year. I mean, even 7-Eleven does that. And I have I have children that are in their 40s that went to school at Bowita. Of course, it was down throw, but in the cafeteria, they always had an aid or two, always out there with those kids. And of course, it was to keep them in line, but it was also to keep them safe. And here, my
049granddaughter tells me that they give them the lunch and then they leave and they go have their lunch in their room in popcorn. Of course, she's special needs and she can't clearly tell me everything. But you do know that it wasn't just seven year olds. >> You do know this was kindergarteners, too. >> If you don't know that, you need to find out because I already have. >> Sure. >> And when they he targets special needs kids, there's an issue and she should be protected. And it doesn't And it isn't just that incident. Every day she's being harassed by a little boy in her class. She doesn't she doesn't want him bothering her, but she doesn't know how to stop it because she thinks she'll be in trouble if she tells her because she doesn't
050know any better. And what what do you do? I mean, I've got to teach her so many times that I don't know. I don't want to keep bugging her. I don't want to be a pain. But um I have full custody of my two granddaughters. One's in pre-K, one's in kindergarten. They both go here. And there's there's more issues. But how about using some of that tax money to get this videos going at least. [applause] >> Next, I have Laura Well, there are there any war sheets over there with any names on. >> Hi, my name is Laura Ev and I'm a victim's rights ambassador for victims across the state of Arkansas. I am a homer by I went here 50 years ago 55 I think in sixth grade 1976. First, I'm sorry for the
051reason that we're all here. Uh my heart goes and my prayer goes out to the parents and the classmates and the school, the school board, the superintendent, administrators in this community. There are beautiful things that can come out of ashes. Sandy Hook when they lost their children to the shooting, they gathered together and have a nonprofit that's free to help people. If anyone's going to change this state, it's going to be this community over this incident. Dr. Ola, are you familiar with Title N? Dr. Ola, on your website, do you have any resources for these parents that deal with child abuse or victim's rights information? People brought up great information here. Those names should have been redacted everywhere. No leak video with people's names should have ever happened. There's a protocol in the state for
052teachers to call the hotline. That's what we are told to do. They changed the name of the hotline to 1800 state of child or 8844. We're not call told to call the local police department. So, we need to find who is going to be the steady point of contact. These parents brought up great information [cough] about how they want to be contacted. We no longer need to fear if we're going to lose $7,000 and people are going to leave our school districts. We need to partner with all these people and you need to have stakeholder meetings and there's only one person to blame for why we're here and he's sitting in the jail. We don't need to blame an administrator. We don't need to blame a teacher. We don't need to blame the fact there
053was a drop in the ball. All of us are victims of this man. And so I ask this community that I am proud I was raised in to join together to bring yourselves together to put whatever personal businesses to take any kind of conspiracy theory off the table and meet together so you can change not only by Vita but this state because our children are abused too often in the state of Arkansas. So thank you for your time. >> Thank you. [applause] I do have one more name. Um, Miranda. >> Yeah. >> Tomer. >> Hi, I'm Miranda Tolman. Um, I work in the district, but my kids, I picked Bito specifically. Um, I have very hard trust issues when it comes to people that deal with my children. um they have yet to have a
054sleepover and it's not because I haven't met people I don't trust it's just none of my mom group we we'll hang out till one o' when the kids get tired then we go home um but I'll be honest my kids have been here since prek we started in the last year of the old school um I'm sorry I'm really loud so I'm echoing >> so I actually had no problem with how things were handled um there was a couple things that some parents have brought up that I agree with. I mean, we could have known a few things. However, my daughter's in kindergarten. I was sexually assaulted when I was in high school. I was prepared. And I hate to say that. I was actually prepared. If someone touches you, this is what you do.
055This is how you handle it. If you're around an administrator, a teacher, around somebody, this is how you handle it. I wasn't assaulted in the school. I was assaulted somewhere else. No, it wasn't a family member. I was out in public and it happened to me. Everybody there alive and I had a look at their faces for years while they still worked at this location. Okay, it's it's just how it is. All right. I had no one there except for my mom to advocate for me. My teachers didn't know. And for me, that sucked because I ended up butting heads with my teachers. So, if there's a kid that's on here that that was sexually assaulted, then I hate to say, if the parents are okay with it for at least the next year or
056two, the next teacher might need to know. However, I'm trying to teach my daughter now, if someone touches you and you feel funny, then you say something. However, she's five and we're having to teach her what's the difference between your uncle hugging you or your best friend hugging you and you're itty bitty. And she is she's teeny tiny little thing and everybody else is really big. So, if she really feels a strange way about it, then yes, say something. But she does misinterpret a lot how things were handled here because I've been a victim. The first thing that I noticed that happened on Facebook when that Freedoms of Information Act happened and you know that police report was now public knowledge and was blasted on Facebook. The most thing that happened was everybody started asking
057what's going on, what's happening. My first question to my children weren't even about this man. Um it was I was more concerned is why was my Edwin removed? Why wasn't she there? Because I've talked to Lindsay. Every time I have a problem, I talk to Lindsay or I talk to I hate to call you by your first name, but I mess up y'all's last names. I talk to Mr. Brandon and I'm like, "Hey, this is my concern." And they'll be like, "We'll look into it. It's not a big deal. We'll look into it." Every single time. They never like, "Yes, sometimes." Okay, I work in the district. I'm at the high school. If y'all ever try to talk to us around midterms or the end of an quarter, we ain't answering emails. I love y'all,
058but we ain't doing it. um you have to come up here in person. So there are days where I had to tell my school, "Hey, I'm going to be late." And I'd come up here and I' I'd wait until they were done. They their presents were very no. And all I asked my kids were cuz I didn't want them to start fearing the people left in this building. I asked, "When was the last time you saw this?" And my son looked at me. He goes, "You know what, Mommy? I haven't seen her in a minute. She's normally always in the hallway smiling at me >> every day. And I was like, okay, well, what have you seen? Mr. Williams. And they're like, that's not how you say his name. Again, I get corrected all the
059time. They are seven. He's in first grade. And he is the he is the class snitch. So, if your sons in my class, I apologize. Um, you you know my face because yeah, I've been to all the things. Um, he's a class snitch. And he will tell me, "Oh, so and so is hitting this person. So and so's jumping on this kid. I'm not upset about it, but as a victim, parents immediately went, "Well, what if there's more victims?" That's true. Okay, I do work in the district, so I know a little more information about the security cameras than everybody else. I know we store them off site. Um, I don't know what to extend. Like, I'll be honest, I don't know that part. Um, but a parent could coach a kid to say, "This
060person hurt you." And I had that happened a lot. In my school, I watched good friends, their moms didn't like them, had their girlfriends lie on their names. I'm not saying anybody in this building would do that because I trust everybody here and I know my time's up. Um, by different I know we all have are very opinionated and we do like full transparency, but I do want to say one thing because I know everybody's pointing fingers. You guys have done a great job. Hindsight's a lot. And if you've seen my Facebook post, that's one thing. Hindsight's a lot. We can say a lot of what ifs. What if we had done it this way? Okay. But from my perspective, from going through that, from having classmates that went through it, too. I I actually
061don't mind how things were handled. The vague message on Friday did kind of scare me because I was like, what's going on? But at the same time, I understand it. So, I just wanted to go ahead and say thank you and Miss L Miss Lindsay. We love you. >> Thank you, ma'am. [applause] >> All right, that is the last person besides Miss Did you sign up? >> Oh, I don't. >> All right. >> Here, let me ask you. Go ahead and state your name. I don't have your I can't read your >> I was short. I tilt it down. Sorry. Oh, you're good. Um, I'm Vanessa Shaughness. Um, sorry, this is I wasn't planning on coming up here. Um, but so my daughter is one of the three and well, thank you for informing me
062as much as you could about everything. Um, the only major question that I've had and it's been ingrained in my head for the last two months is the previous girls. There were multiple videos and I'm assuming my daughter was the last one before it was caught. So, the picture, I don't know if it was of my daughter or if it was the other two. However, my daughter is very lovable and friendly and everybody just wants to be around her and I know that draws attention, unwanted attention, but if those other two girls are in two different classes versus mine, so they're all in different classes, where were the teachers or the the anybody body that worked in this school. Where were they when these little girls were being touched by this man? I I don't
063think there's enough accountability as they've mentioned. A lot of people have mentioned in this group. I don't want to say people should lose their jobs. However, I don't know what other options there are at this point. My daughter, I'm grateful it wasn't as severe as I've heard from the other two. And I I don't like to be the person that sits there and says, "Yeah, I've been sexually assaulted." But I have. I've gone through the court process and everything. And for my seven-year-old to be assaulted, three months of being in Jacksonville for PCS reasons, and this is what I got to deal with. [applause] So the only question I have is who why was there not enough people paying attention to the children? It's a 30-minute lunch for each class. Why was there not anybody
064paying attention? Like why did not a teacher see a grown man standing behind him touching him? It doesn't make sense. And why didn't anybody step in and say, "Stop touching the kid." What do you mean? [applause] Now, I know this guy got arrested. He got released the next day. >> Can't really do anything about it. There wasn't a lot. Just some video footage of 12 days. I don't know if the one video was strictly the one video of my daughter being touched. I don't know. But eight in three. That's ridiculous. In 12 days. >> So, please get better camera systems. >> Thank you. [applause] Is the can we can we get a point of clarification on the storage capacity of the uh cameras or do you want to touch on that or can you >>
065Yeah, >> go ahead and just each school has individ each school has individual servers depending on the number of cameras that are on that server. So it it depends on how many cameras are attached to that server. So like at the high school there's four there's four different servers. So and on one server may be 30 cameras the other server may be 90 cameras. So that limits the one that has 90 cameras on it that limit that limits the the available space for storage. Here at Bito we have one server. There's only one server in the building. We have 90 caners. So that limits our storage capacity to approximately uh five. >> I'm just asking for point of clarification and information. Please please please I just ask for clarification and we'll take the input and
066we'll make some discussion and decisions. But >> let Mr. Olen speak. >> I I understand. I wish I stand the From what I've talked to, uh the longest storage is uh capable is probably 90 days. Um and the only people in the state right now that store storage be for 90 days is the marijuana. They are required by state to do that. >> We we try we ask for 30 days when we we put the camera systems in. We asked for 30 days, but when we add to the camera system, we added the service and we'll come back after we put a server in, we'll say, we'll realize that we needed more cameras here, more cameras here. So, we added cameras and that deleted 30 days down because the number of cameras we added. This
067building has nine cameras. That's a lot of cameras for a school this size. Every classroom in this district has a camera in it. So, you can imagine you I don't know what our total camera count is, but just imagine every every classroom in the school district has a camera. So that's a lot of that's a lot of >> Okay. Thank Thank you, sir, for that clarification. Probably be asking for >> All right. Next, we've got >> Mr. Lindsay, I think you're up. I don't know if this is the dumbest thing I've ever done. Um, I want to talk to you guys. Um, I want to talk to the parents because I've not been allowed to talk. In fact, I was told that I could not speak to parents, students, staff members until decisions were made.
068believe this have all been made. So, I think I'm good. All's good. Um, I want to apologize to all of the parents out here. I want to apologize to every single person who's not heard my voice. I want to apologize to your students whose faces I miss tremendously. I miss every one of your babies. I miss seeing you guys. I miss getting to interact with your kids every day. I'm sorry. I'm human and if there's things that I could have done differently, I will accept responsibility for those things and I will continue to improve myself, constantly reflecting and constantly doing all of the things that I can do. I've been in Jacksonville for a very long time. I chose Jacksonville, North Palaski School District, as the district that I wanted to work in. I had
069options. I had other places to go. I chose to be here. I apologize to my staff that you guys are being treated as if you're not professionals because guys, this staff is amazing. You're not going to find [applause] [applause] these men and women over here. They love your kids. when you bring your kids into this building, and I wish I could still stand up here and say that I was able to come into this building and love on your kids, but the goal that I've always had is that wherever my child went to school, wherever I was an administrator, I needed those classrooms to be as good for your children as they are and were for my children. My child went to school at Bayina Elementary School. My child was here until he graduated fifth
070grade. These people are topnotch. They didn't need a refresher in mandated reporting because they knew what they were doing from the get-go. Why wouldn't [applause] >> I would love to talk to you. >> I will answer your questions. I don't think they're going to give me the time, but I would love to sit down. >> I will buy you lunch and I will answer your questions. >> I can buy my own lunch with I'll let you do that, but I will let you. So, um, >> so I, uh, want to apologize. >> I'm just trying to keep this. >> I'm going to let her speak. I'm just trying to keep the crowd from talking back and forth to Miss Jones. Jones, please address the crowd. I'm sorry for the lies that you've been told by
071this school district. >> Lots of questions have been asked tonight. I don't know why you were not told until December 5th. I suspect, but I don't know. I suspect the reason that you were not told until December 5th with a vague email was most likely because on December 1st I was given an ultimatum and two choices and I was given until December 8th to make that decision. Yes, I chose resignation. No, neither of those options have anything to do with what you're here for tonight. [applause] In fact, neither of those reasons had anything to do with a single child or anything that happened between a child or staff member at this building. The reasons were because I was told that I'm unprofessional and that I was unprofessional to my direct supervisor. There's a lot more
072to that story. A whole lot more to that story that I've not been allowed to share. But the answer to your question is, was my ultimatum based upon this situation? No, it was not. Also, I want you to know that there's audio conversations, there's transcripts to prove that if you're unsure, or if you don't believe the things that I'm saying, but what I want you guys to know is that I love you. I miss you. I miss your kids. Yes, I was given an option of of a termination that would go before this board or resignation. I chose resignation effective June 30th, 2026. I am currently on admin leave. I was placed on admin leave by representatives up here. That occurred on Monday, December 1st. I was told and it is in the audio that
073I could not speak to teachers could not tell them why I wasn't coming back that I could not speak to parents that I could not speak to you guys and tell you guys why I wasn't coming back that I could not speak to children in addition I was told that the person who put me on admin leave would be speaking to nobody because it was a personnel issue. My staff was told this I'm sorry I know you're not my staff but I still love you and I claim you all. >> They were all told by my supervisor, former supervisor that y'all would not be told anything. I suspect that the reason on October 5th a very vague email went out regarding this situation was to make it look as if I was the person responsible.
074I don't have proof, but I suspect that that has a lot to do with it. I suspect that after the board meeting on Monday, December 8th when Miss Cook spoke, thank you for speaking, >> that perhaps things did not go as planned. And then perhaps we needed to make another vague statement to clarify things to make ourselves look a little less guilty. I don't have proof, but I want you guys to know I miss your babies. Tell them that I love them. >> I miss every one of your faces. Staff, students, let me address um the u cafeteria issue. Teachers have to have a lunch. It's required during the daytime. The only way that obviously required. We want to give them a lunch. I'm sorry that came off very abruptly. Teachers are not in the
075cafeteria at lunch. All of our lunch monitors were cut due to budgetary constraints. Not a choice of any of the buildings. >> The building administrators did not get to make those choices. >> Oh, I'm sorry. It's the legislators, not the districts. All right, Miss Jones. >> He would let me wrap it up. So, I'm going to wrap it up. >> Calm down. >> Let her finish. >> Let everybody else finish. in this. >> So again, love you guys. Apologize. I'll be glad to answer questions. Um if you have any more questions, but the reason that there were not that's one of the reasons I will I do want to say we were proactive. We had some concerns with lunch monitors in the past. The staff here, myself, we were proactive. It was very hands-on during
076lunchtime. I was in the cafeteria. Mr. Williams was in the cafeteria. Multiple different staff members. If you didn't have a class, you were in the cafeteria with the exception of security because I was told he could not be in the cafeteria. So it with the exception also office staff was also told office staff could not help. So we rearranged the the cafeteria monitoring schedule multiple times every time someone else was pulled from us to ensure that your students were safe and protected. I do apologize to you guys because I was the leader of this building and I do take full responsibility for all of the things that happened, good, bad, ugly, and everything in between. However, there are things that my hands were tied on and I do apologize to you guys for anything that
077we may have missed and anything that we may have done to make you feel uncomfortable. But I love you and I miss you and I thank you for being here and allowing you to see [applause] >> [applause] >> All right, that is everyone that signed up to speak. Closing comments. Any board member like to speak? I I was a parent before I was >> Can you hear me now? >> Um, I was a parent before I was a board member. Born and raised in Jacksonville. have experience on both sides being a parent, being a board member, still got kids in the district. So, I understand your pain. Difficult decisions had to be made. Um, some things we just could not share. We just could not share. And when you're not in those roles, some of
078those things you do not understand. But please know from the bottom of our heart, we care about our kids. A mistake was made. We should have notified everybody earlier. We learned from our from our mistakes. We will definitely do better. Um please give us a chance to grow your trust again to continue to build our district. >> Maybe when y'all get better at actually parents that you want people to have. >> How you going to trust somebody? I want to echo Miss Laura's words. You both have made faces that everybody everybody got up. The girl that said she was sexually assaulted in regards to your staff members or not. Y'all ass. >> So, uh, I just want to reiterate what this is advocate. I think there's a lot of opportunity here for growth and obviously
079some communication could be much better and we'll definitely learn from it and we will definitely review policies, hiring policies. I think Dr. O has already reached out to members of state level on on improving that and we as a board will continue to review those policies and I think the fact that we showed up here tonight and called this meeting at the request. We care about our kids safety and security is first. Kids can't learn if they're not safe, right? So, uh a lot of uh lot of other stuff going on. Um and uh as Miss Jones said, I think she didn't resign because of this incident. >> Thanks for letting us know. >> So I I think there was some misinformation in the paper today and uh that needs to be known. She did
080not resign because of this incident. Nobody deserves to be thrown under the bus for what that custodian did. Okay. Besides him. So, uh, you know, a lot of people are putting a lot of fingers on social media. None of that's anybody more. >> Okay. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Jim Moore here. Usually don't go around this too often. I have a young son. He's not young anymore, but when he was, I was in the Air Force. We get ready to leave one base and go somewhere else. Of course, most military people know that when you go station, you usually end up staying in like a motel. And our youngest son Can you hear me now? >> Okay. My son was around 10 years old. Today he still feels what happened in that motel type
081place on base. He was sexually assaulted by an Air Force person who was there in the same building who was either leaving or coming in. Today, my son still has that situation. He'll never forget it. And his mother and I will never forget it. I've been a I've been a youth pastor around this country. I had teenagers. I had girls, I had boys, and I always made sure that no one touched them unless it was their parents picking them up. I do not like what happens in our society. And the way I feel right now, if I could find out what that guy's name was that sexually assaulted my son, I'd go with him because we, my wife gave him birth. He was my son. And I do not like what happens to young people.
082We have five little girls at our church where I'm also involved. their parents don't even care for them. The grandparent has custody. And when I look at that and I've seen what happened here, anything I could do to stop these sexual perverts, I am going to do. If I could find that guy that did that to my son, I would whoop him until he couldn't do anything else. Because when we start doing when we start allowing this to happen, it takes away their life. >> Most of the time forever and it really hurts the parents and I know that it hurt me. It hurts my wife. My youngest son has a Parker now. My oldest son's only one we have grandkids >> and it's just a terrible thing in our society. Something that we have
083to stop. >> All right, Mort. >> Can I make one comment? Uh I think Dr. or talked about earlier, there's going to be counseling available for all the the kids out here at Viamea, either affected or not affected by this particular situation. Is that correct statement? >> Any other comments? >> All right, that uh concludes the meeting. We will >> actually I just I got one question. That's it. Yes, sir. All right. Since the lunch monitoring situation has come to light, how soon do y'all want to fix that so that we have people watching our kids back like we're supposed to? >> Do we need parent volunteers for lunch? Because if we need that, if we need parent volunteers, that's something I'm a wor I don't mind. >> So, if I could address the lunch
084monitor issue. So this past year we lost $1.7 million. And so that's that's the budget issue that that was mentioned. And so we had to look at staff around the schools around the district. And so that's when we started looking at positions to cut. And so the conversation we had with our administrators is that for example at our high school and middle school, all of our administrators did lunch duty. And so we asked our elementary uh principles to and assistant principles to also do that. At some schools they were not doing that. And that's where you found at this particular school we had uh custodians and a pair professional in here. >> Yes. To answer your question, sir, if we can continue to increase the funding, which we've worked on today, I mean this year,
085which was when we asked you all to complete those uh three uh those SNAP forms so that we can increase our funding so we can supply the schools with the necessary staff. So, we're looking into bringing those lunch monitors back as well as other important positions that we may need in the school district. So, that's what we're working on. But that's the reason why because from the very beginning of the school district when we started we had lunch monitors but when we looked at positions that we that would not directly impact the instructional setting the academic setting we had to look at those uh particular positions like that uh those lunches as well as clarif staff members. >> Okay. Well obviously we need some more lunch. >> Yes sir. Even if you have to ask
086parents to volunteers, you can run background checks on the parents that volunteer for it and everything. >> I don't see what the problem is. >> And and we do accept we have a volunteer program and we have the system for >> any of y'all say, "Hey, we got a shortage of lunch here and you know to keep the kids Everybody else, >> yeah, this shouldn't be just for the school. It should be for the entire district. We need to step it up for our kids. >> However much that cost to make sure nobody else [snorts] forget about it is worth But like I would take a pay cut to make sure I would take a safe and I believe that so I have one thing on information going forward. My understand is there already a
087new guideline in place that says when something happened after after 10 days 20 days is there anything >> what what I've instructed our staff to do as soon as we have the initial incident we're going to notify the parents that we had the initial incident the investigations is ongoing and that as more information develops we will u notify what we also changed because I realize more parents said that they did not receive the email. We now and I hope most of you received it. We yesterday I believe we received a phone call uh and a text saying we received a we just sent out an important email and then we received some feedback from parents saying that they didn't receive the email and so we take uh we took those email addresses so that we
088could provide the email addresses but honestly we did not the amount of information that we were given in that first email we did not want to send that by a text message or a phone call and That's the reason why you got the email, but we understand you need notifications that that important email was sent. So, we made that change as well. >> Um, but I know we've addressed the timeline. It's really important as a school district that we put out that we do not allow this crap in our school. We will blast you in the school will be are not going to come in to our school and touch our kids and we're going to not tell anybody. That opens it up to, oh, I can come here and they're not even going to
089tell us. We cannot open the door for people to come in here and think they're safe. So, we need to put out You can't come to You can't come to JSV and get on our staff and mess with our kids and get off. You know what I mean? Not that that's what happened, but we really need to promote that. Like, no. I said it before as soon as the district was aware of the situation the man was removed. >> Yeah. No. And I >> never came back terminated and that's how all terminations work. You wait till the next work. That's that's just standard protocol as far on pay until so till we can vote. That's just how it works. >> So we're we're we're officially adjourned. We're here and if you if anybody wants to
090stay, I'll stay.