WENTZVILLE — The Wentzville School Board will staff a second police officer at future meetings as board members say they’ve received death threats, capping off another tumultuous month for the school district.
Tempers flared again at the end of a nearly six-hour meeting of the board on Thursday night when discussions turned to whether to hire a second cop at future meetings.
Board members said some people at meetings have feared for their safety.
“I recognize that words don’t hurt, but there have been instances when those words were threats of physical violence,†said Board President Jason Goodson.
For months, parents and meeting attendees have sparred with district administrators and school board members over a host of issues ranging from transgender students’ use of bathrooms and locker rooms to elementary-level reading and writing curriculum. Those meetings frequently turned into shouting matches as board members were heckled by attendees. Some have called for the resignations of Goodson and Superintendent Danielle Tormala.
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Then, last month, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey sued the district, alleging the board violated the state’s open meetings law when members met in closed session over the summer to discuss a policy for transgender students to request arrangements such as using single-stall bathrooms or locker rooms.
Thursday’s meeting, which included more than two hours of public comment, was largely congenial until just before midnight when board members began discussing whether to staff a second cop at future meetings.
“In my opinion, this is a step too far and in the direction of trying to intimidate those people at the podium,†said Jen Olson, a board member and frequent critic of the administration who said “heated debates†are part of the governing process.
Olson said she, too, has received death threats, but has never felt unsafe at a school board meeting or felt that “someone was going to be physically violent at a meeting.â€
“I guess you are lucky that you feel safe,†said board member Julie Scott. But that doesn’t mean everyone feels safe, she said.
Almost simultaneously an argument broke out in the audience, and two women were escorted out of the Peine Ridge Elementary School gymnasium, where the meeting was held.
The board ultimately voted 4-2 — with Olson and Renee Henke voting against — to approve a contract for the extra police officer.
That vote, and the discussion around it, illustrated the divide on the school board that’s only deepened since Bailey filed his lawsuit.
The attorney general said his office first learned of possible open meeting violations from Olson and Henke, both of whom were elected in April as avowed conservatives and with the backing of the St. Charles County Republican Central Committee. Olson and Henke provided Bailey’s office with sworn affidavits alleging the board violated the state’s open meetings law when it discussed student bathroom and locker room use in closed session.
{div class=â€lee-article-textâ€}Both Henke and Olson refused earlier this week to heed calls from other board members to recuse themselves from discussions about hiring a defense attorney to represent the district in the lawsuit, which does not yet have a scheduled court date. Other board members said it was unethical for the people helping sue the district to also be involved in helping choose its defense attorney.
“I will not recuse myself. I am a part of this board. I have been voted onto this board, and I will participate as a board member,†Henke said during a brief online meeting earlier this week.
The board ultimately voted to hire Mickes O’Toole, a ºüÀêÊÓƵ law firm, to represent them in the suit.
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At the meeting in question, board members discussed a potential new policy for bathroom and locker room use at the district, according to affidavits in Bailey’s suit. The policy outlined the process by which a transgender student could notify the district about their orientation and request special accommodations.
A district spokesperson said the district does not have an official written policy for bathroom and locker room usage by transgender students. The district handles requests to allow students to use single-stall bathrooms, originally meant for school faculty, on a case-by-case basis.
{div class=â€lee-article-textâ€}At Thursday’s meeting, board member David Lewis said the suit has created a “lot of consternation†within the 17,000-student district, one of the largest in the state. Lewis said he joined Olson and Henke in submitting sworn affidavits, though his, unlike Olson and Henke’s, has not been released by the attorney general.
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“We raised questions in private, and we felt that they were not addressed. We still had doubts, and so we went to the attorney general’s office for answers,†Lewis said.
Board members on Thursday discussed the topic further, including a proposed policy that would allow a student to use existing, single-person facilities if the student chooses, regardless of the reasoning.
The policy, which is sponsored by Olson, also includes language declaring that there are “two main categories†of students — male and female — “an individual’s reproductive biology at birth.†The policy includes a requirement that requests to use single-person restroom or locker rooms must be discussed with a student’s parent or guardian.
Tormala, the district superintendent, said administrators are awaiting a decision by the Missouri Appellate Court regarding a case involving a Kansas City-area school district that lost a lawsuit filed on behalf of a transgender student who claimed the district’s policies for bathroom and locker room usage discriminated against them. The district was ordered to pay $5 million in damages.
The proposed policy will likely be discussed again in November, district officials said.