Soap Lake citizens share concerns about Adkins

Four address school board at Monday's meeting

SOAP LAKE — Monday's Soap Lake School Board meeting piqued the interest of about 100 people who came as concerned citizens and school district staff to voice concern and support for Soap Lake School District Superintendent John Adkins.

Over the past couple of months, Adkins has faced allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation which has led to controversy about his position as superintendent.

The community discussion that took place during the regularly scheduled meeting of the school board was the result of months of community concern about the future of Adkins role as superintendent.

At the beginning of Monday's meeting, Sergeant at Arms Jennifer Hommer addressed the audience with a statement saying that those who wished to make comments would be held responsible for defamatory statements made. "You have no immunity from civil liability and will be held accountable for defamable statements that you make," Hommer said.

Hommer went on to say that the SLSD has completed its investigation into each of the allegations made against Adkins, and found allegations of "intimidation and sexual harassment to be completely unfounded," later adding that other concerns with Adkins were "addressed and rectified."

After convening in executive session for 15 minutes, the school board came back to address those present, allotting 30 minutes for people to come forward and address the board after the rest of the agenda items were discussed.

Before the discussion began, school board member Gerry Ramm told the audience that personal complaints regarding Adkins' performance would not be allowed as part of the discussion, but only those comments pertaining to contract issues, which angered some audience members, including John Bessett, who was the first one to address the board.

In his statement, Bessett mentioned his concern as a parent and that he didn't believe community complaints about Adkins were being taken seriously, and went on to describe Adkins' performance as superintendent.

Adkins has a "hands-off (approach) when it comes to student safety and community relations," Bessett said, who stressed that he also feels there is a lack of support for teachers in the classroom.

Before continuing any further, Ramm stopped Bessett, saying his comments were becoming inappropriate for public discussion.

"Keep your comments to contracts in the district," Ramm said.

To which Bessett replied, "this is a contract issue."

Throughout the evening, there seemed to be continued disagreement between the board and Bessett as to what constituted discussion of contract versus issues of personnel.

"If you have a personnel complaint then you need to give a written complaint to the district office," Ramm said.

Cheri Nickel, Soap Lake Education Association president, also addressed the board along with teacher Judi Jensen and another community member who read a letter representing the Ukraine and Russian communities expressing support for Adkins.

Nickel reiterated the 26-2 vote of no confidence made in December by school district staff against Adkins and said yesterday that vote was reinforced with a majority vote of 78 percent made by SLEA.

Later, Jensen spoke in defense of Adkins, stating that his performance had been professional and showed concern for other staff members and their families. Jensen described Adkins' performance as being "creative with budget cuts and accountability … he also shows courage," she said.

By the end of Monday's meeting, audience members had mixed feelings about how the discussion went.

"I don't think they're willing to listen to the community," said a teacher, who asked to remain anonymous.

Another audience member and former SLSD student, who now works in the district and also asked to remain anonymous, disagreed.

"I think it went well and I agreed with not (having the audience make personal complaints regarding personnel)," the audience member said. "I don't think that's right."

When asked to comment about how he thought the meeting went Monday night, Adkins declined.