RWIS passes policy revision; organization 'disappointed'
Nov. 21—RACELAND — Raceland-Worthington Independent School board members voted to pass multiple policy revisions during a regular meeting on Monday evening — but a recently formed organization said many answers lie unaddressed.
Prior to the board's policy votes, members of Kentucky PATH — a newly formed organization and eventual non-profit — urged board members to table the issue or vote no until they had an opportunity to thoroughly look through the organization's recommended changes on a district-wide communication policy.
Policy regarding the district's regulations on personal cell phone use and electronic media highlighted the agenda. Outraged parents and community members filled multiple previous meetings in response to allegations of grooming and sexual abuse of students by multiple school staff members.
In September, multiple screenshots began circulating depicting unethical conversations between alleged employees of RWIS and students or former students, stirring the large majority of outrage throughout the small community.
In the fallout of allegations of inappropriate communications between faculty and students, the school board issued a rough draft of a rehauled "computer and network access to electronic media" policy, which proposed a rule stating personnel texting or instant messaging students and parents as "discouraged except in the event of an emergency."
"If employees directly text and/or instant message parents or students, they are doing such action at their own risk," the draft reads, adding any employee who does so will be subject to disciplinary action, including termination.
Per the new policy, "Staff members are encouraged to maintain separate professional and personal social media accounts. If staff members create personal sites to which they invite students to be friends, they are doing such action at their own risk."
In response to the policy's first reading last month, founding members of Kentucky PATH, Heather and Stephen Kesner, Dr. Terry Hapney, Mark Smith and Kris Baldridge, issued recommendations to the board as they felt the district's existing policy under review was "inadequate."
Kentucky PATH recommended the district implement a district-wide communications policy to set expectations for appropriate conduct and to protect students and staff members from inappropriate communications online and on personal devices.
The organization's draft, sent to board members prior to Monday's meeting, defines inappropriate communication and would ensure any contact be transparent and accessible to the district.
While the district's drafted policy discourages teacher-to-student communication and warns any personnel member that if they choose to engage with a student on social media they are doing so at their own risk, Kentucky PATH's recommendation uses more direct language.
Kentucky PATH proposed in its communication policy that staff "must decline" invitations from students who may interact through texting or on social media, and "staff may not" use personal or school-issued devices to communicate directly with students on a social network.
During Monday's public comment portion of the meeting, three community members elected to speak.
Of the three, Kentucky PATH's Heather and Stephen Kesner spoke on behalf of the organization.
Heather said on initial launch of the group, Kentucky PATH reached out to community members, who Heather said largely believed the current revised policies "(were) not sufficient," as unregulated and unmonitored communications are still a possibility under the new regulation.
Both Stephen and Heather Kesner said their feedback and inquiries — including the eight pages of recommended revisions to board members — had not garnered a response as of Monday.
Heather Kesner advised board members to "pause and fully consider," the community's input, as the modifications would not only protect students and staff, it would "restore trust" that students are kept safe and also shield the school district from any future allegations of such magnitude.
To show board members were willing to look further into the recommended changes, Heather Kesner asked members to either table the vote or cast a "no" vote until they had time to review any changes.
Upon the motion to vote on the second reading of the district's new policy on computer and network access, Sandra Loperfido, the board chair, clarified it is not a communication policy.
"This is the one that I think that some people were calling communication ... We've made quite a few changes in it," Loperfido said in response to board members Don Rambo and Brad Fairchild's questions about which policy Kentucky PATH and community members had provided input to.
"It's definitely an improvement from our old one. Our old one was very poor," Fairchild said.
Both Fairchild and board member Jerry Epling were reassured by Loperfido the policy could be revisited at "any time," if the board felt additions or changes needed to be made.
"I take it as, this one, at this point in time, we improve on what we had, but we're not locked into (it). ... There's a few other things I would like to see there," Rambo said. "This is something we need to look at."
Epling proposed tabling the issue, but Rambo voiced hesitation as he didn't want to wait to correct the outdated policy.
"My worry about tabling is that the old one still stands. and if the old one is horrible and this one is much better ... if something does happen, God forbid, if we don't take this improvement, then we're stuck with the old one which we know is not good," Rambo said.
The board unanimously passed the second reading of the proposed policy with intentions of looking into community input more thoroughly to possibly change at a later date.
Here are a few other highlights from Monday:
—Following the meeting, Kentucky PATH issued a press release stating the organization was "quite disappointed with tonight's decision ... to proceed with the adoption of the 'Computer and Network Access to Electronic Media' policy without including community input that was provided to the board a week ago.
"...The revision tonight contains no material improvement, and fails to recognize any community feedback," the statement continued. "There are still numerous questions to be answered, policies to be revised and new policies to be established."
—As part of Kentucky PATH's initiative of transparency and advocacy, Stephen Kesner stated he had previously sent an email request to livestream all future board meetings to ensure transparency and community access, as he and others could not find online meeting minutes upon an extensive search.
Kesner said since his written request on Nov. 10, he had received no response.
—Rachel Roland, a parent of students in the district, said her children would not return in January as she felt "lied to" by Superintendent Larry Coldiron.
Roland said following a school board meeting where concerned citizens were instructed to schedule a private meeting with Coldiron, she left the meeting relieved at first.
Roland said she was told by Coldiron there was no active investigation into any employee of the district, however, days later, a special called meeting was canceled due to a pending investigation, according to a statement issued by the district.
Roland said Coldiron also told her he planned to issue a public statement.
"I felt like I had been lied to," Roland said, adding she was pleased with the district's elementary level instructors and administrators.
"My children will eventually be in a school where we are hiding rapists ... I can't allow my children to go to a school where things are brushed under the rug," Roland said.
Rambo later responded to Roland that he didn't believe Coldiron's statements about the lack of a police investigation was out of any "ill intent."
"We really thought that there was no investigation," Rambo said.
"We were all under the impression at the time ... that there was no investigation," Rambo said, "and then we found out later there was."
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