Kramer Elementary Parents Confront Board Of Education Over Aide's Actions

BY ANNA QUENNEVILLE
Miami University journalism student

The superintendent of local schools has apologized for the actions of a local school aide who three parents accuse of harming their children.

Talawanda School District Superintendent Kelly Spivey sent the parents "an apologetic and thoughtful letter" at the end of last week after the parents brought their complaints to Board of Education earlier in the week, according to Donna Danoff, one of the parents.

Spivey also spoke to the parents after the board meeting and "expressed her regret at how things transpired and were handled," according to parent Andrew Offenburger. Danoff called that conversation "a welcome, first-time acknowledgement to validate months of being virtually ignored and dismissed."

The complaints against the former Kramer Elementary School aide -- who the parents have declined to identify publicly -- surfaced on Monday, Oct. 16, when Danoff and Offenburger, along with parent Richard Kornylak, spoke at the school board meeting.

The parents shared similar stories about the aide physically harming their children -- and asked the board for an apology and explanation of how their complaints were handled.

Picture of bruise

At the beginning of this school year, Kornylak told the board, his son came home from school with a bruise on his arm, caused when the aide grabbed him on the playground. Kornylak said he reported the incident to Kramer Principal Jason Merz, along with a photograph of the bruise on his son's arm, which he also presented to the board.

Offenburger told the board his daughter's arm was bruised by that same aide in the spring. According to Offenburger, his daughter returned from recess in tears. She was bouncing a ball and didn't hear the aide ask her to stop. The aide then grabbed the girl from a line and dug her nails into the girl's skin asking, "Did you learn your lesson now?," Offenburger reported.

Danoff told the board the same aide slapped her son on the head and pulled him by the scruff of his hair and neck, just two days prior to the incident with Offenburger's daughter.

“I requested that that the incident be placed in the employee’s permanent file, so that any future incident would warrant punitive action or termination. I was told this would happen,” Offenburger told the board.

That didn’t happen, the parents said. Using an open records request, Offenburger learned that the employee had received a positive performance evaluation two days after the incident with his daughter. The incident was not noted in her file, he said.

The parents also said Kramer officials did not report the incidents to the school board or superintendent.

Aide transferred

Instead, Kornylak said the incident with his son was treated as if it was the first and only one. Kornylak said he was told that there wasn’t enough evidence to do more than suspend the aide for 10 days and transfer her to Talawanda High School, a transfer she had requested and where she currently works. Kornylak said he was never asked to provide more information or evidence, which he told the board he found “laughable.”

School Board President Mark Butterfield declined to address the matter during the board meeting. “We will not comment on this tonight and this will all be taken into account,” he said.

Spivey could not be reached to answer additional questions. She referred questions to Dennis Malone, director of human resources for the school district, who also could not be reached.

In other matters, the school board reported that the State of Ohio has provided a clear indication that the project to build a new Marshall Elementary School “is a go.” The district hopes to have the project done by Aug. 20, 2020.

A new building code that requires storm shelters will add $400,000 cost to the new Marshall building, with an estimated total price tag of $14 million. The state will cover about a quarter of the storm shelter cost.

The board's next meeting will be Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m. and is open to the public.

Top photo: The Talawanda School District Board of Education meets monthly at Talawanda High School. --- Contributed photo