Supporters of teacher-coach Greg Stacy are calling it an unfair judgment on a good educator who has been with the district for more than 20 years. Some of the backers, which included parents, even threatened to pull their future support of school levies.
Thursday night’s school board meeting attracted an overflow crowd wanting to see how the board would deal with Preble Shawnee Junior-Senior High School teacher.
Paula Richardson, an organizer of the supporters, said, “We believe in him, he’s a great guy, he’s a great teacher, great person, great coach, and they’ve got it all wrong.”
The district’s investigation began in November when a student pressed a sexual harassment complaint. The complaint included accusations that Stacy sent texts to female students, engaged in inappropriate touching and created the appearance of favoritism.
The Preble County Sheriff’s Office never found any basis to pursue criminal charges.
The district moved forward anyway.
Thursday night, Superintendent David Ulrich told News Center 7’s Natalie Jovonovich, “There is different standards between criminal prosecution and the adherence to board policy and that because of those different standards, you have obviously a different result.”
The board voted 5-0 to terminate Stacy’s contract at the end of the school year.
His backers immediately registered their unhappiness. “Wow, wow, shame on all of you! Election time!
“To hell with this place man! Shame on all of you, shame on all of you. I will never vote for another Preble Shawnee levy!”
Attorney Brian Muenchenbach said his client, Stacy, has been “faithfully dedicated to these students. They have thrived in his care. The allegations against him are completely unsubstantiated.”
Muenchenbach said before the board meets next on May 19 — when the members will make Stacy’s termination official — he plans to appeal Thursday night’s vote so he can get a hearing before a neutral referee who will hear from witnesses.