Willoughby-Eastlake School Board member William Boxler resigns after investigation
Sep. 15—Following allegations regarding a potential security breach, William Boxler has resigned from the Willoughby-Eastlake School Board.
Boxler was suspected of signing into the district's administrative account for PowerSchool in the spring using an administrator's log-in information, though an investigation found no wrongdoing.
"I would like to issue an apology to the students," Boxler said in a statement provided to the board this week. "I would like also to say to the staff that I'm sorry I let you down. My actions, while not done with any malicious intent, are inexcusable. To the community that elected me, I would also like to apologize. I know you had higher hopes of me and I did not line up to those ideals.
"In my future endeavors, I will work diligently to make better decisions," he added. "Please do not let my actions carry over to the other members of the board. I hope the community can put this aside and begin to work to support our students, and staff. That is the reason I ran for the school board and I feel we have been constantly stopped, and had obstacles put in our way that are out of our control.
"In order to best serve the district, I hereby resign as a board member effective immediately."
According to board president Krista Bair, a thorough investigation was completed by the Eastlake and Willoughby police departments, resulting in a determination by both city prosecutors that the alleged incidents did not constitute prosecutable offenses, but rather that the matter should be handled internally by the district as an administrative issue.
The board then engaged a neutral third party to conduct a full, thorough investigation.
"With regard to concerns that student information was compromised as a result of the alleged incidents, compliance with student privacy obligations, particularly with regard to FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), was one of the focus of that investigation," Bair said at a Sept. 14 board meeting. "The investigatory report indicated there exists no evidence confirming that any student information was accessed."
Due to the determinations from the investigations, the board felt it necessary to censure the actions of Boxler. The board also plans to engage in FERPA training in an effort to avoid any similar circumstances from occurring in the future.
The entire report will be posted on the district's website under the Board of Education tab, officials said.
Initially, upon learning of the potential security breach, the board notified the administration and engaged the district's IT department to remedy the breach, including working to ensure that proper notification and direction regarding securing accounts to prohibit additional access by unauthorized individuals was provided.
"We contacted PowerSchool, our software program which houses student data, to investigate and identify any potential breach of student information in order to determine whether any further action was necessary," Bair said.
Additionally, Bair said the board met and worked with the police departments, as well as accommodated their requests regarding their investigation of the allegations. This included temporarily suspending any district investigation while a determination was made regarding potential criminal charges.
Bair said local law enforcement and both prosecutors determined that no prosecutable offenses had occurred. The district continued its investigation, which addressed all allegations.
"As soon as the investigatory report was provided by the neutral investigator, the board met to review the findings and determine the next steps," she said. "One of the additional steps the board did to address any future security issues was to issue a directive, back in April, to our superintendent to immediately enact two-factor authentication, which had not been scheduled to be enacted until August of this year."
Board member Aaron Reedy said that as a parent he is upset.
"This looks bad on this school board and for years, there's been mistrust with the board," Reedy said. "We want to fix that. There are limitations on what we can and cannot do with a fellow board member when it comes to things like this. We honestly want to do the absolute best that we possibly can with the authority that we have for the students, the community, the administration and for everybody."
