Four members of the Vashon School Board have voted to censure the fifth board member, Jessica Adams, for a publishing a scathing Facebook post blasting the school district’s director of student services, Kathryn Coleman.

The vote to formally reprimand Adams, on Nov. 13, came after Board Chair Juniper Rogneby and Interim Superintendent Jo Moccia asked her to resign earlier that day — a request Adams refused. Adams, in an interview, said she also preemptively ruled out the possibility of resigning at the beginning of a special board meeting held in executive session later that afternoon, in advance of the board’s regular public meeting.

Another call for Adams’ resignation came during the board meeting from Stephanie Spencer, the district’s director of teaching and learning, who made the request in a public statement.

In both the censure measure and its discussion of it, board members said that the public way Adams had conveyed her complaints about Coleman was a serious violation of district policy as well as a breach of Moccia’s contract with the board. Her action, they said, had compromised their ability to govern effectively.

With former professional experience in finance, Adams had been appointed by the board as its warrant officer, tasked with working with the district’s finance director to review and approve payments to creditors. At the Nov. 13 meeting, the board also voted to remove her from that position.

Adams, appointed to the board one year ago to fill a vacancy following the resignation of Kaycie Alanis, was elected this month in an uncontested race to retain her seat on the board for the next four years.

According to state law, elected school board members cannot be involuntarily removed from office unless they have committed certain felonies. All other elected board members can only be removed from office following a special recall election initiated by a voter, approved by a court order and meeting petition requirements to be placed on a ballot.

Facebook post

On Nov. 6, Adams made the widely shared post on her personal Facebook page. The post, decorated with fire emojis, began with her assertion that she was “so done with playing nice … Scorched Earth it is and game on.”

She then shared a lengthy letter she said she had sent to Coleman and members of the special education team under Coleman’s direction.

Adams did not name Coleman in her post — instead referring to her as “the Director” and addressing her as “ma’am” in the letter. But the letter’s content, highly specific to Coleman’s role as leader of the district’s special education programs, left no doubt as to its recipient.

Coleman did not respond to an email asking if she would like to comment.

In the lengthy post, Adams described her 7-year-old home-schooled son’s extensive medical and cognitive disabilities and harshly criticized Coleman for her denial to grant an accommodation for him to have six hours per week of in-person adult support at the district’s FamilyLink space on the district campus. In each of the letter’s six paragraphs, Adams repeated the phrase “shame on you.”

The Beachcomber obtained a copy of the post, which Adams said she deleted on Nov. 8 after a request to do so by board chair Rogneby. Also on Nov. 8, Adam’s son was admitted for what became a five-day hospital stay, which delayed further discussion of the incident until Nov. 13, said Moccia, Rogneby and Adams.

Because The Beachcomber has not investigated Adams’ allegations, the content of her letter will not be discussed further in this article.

Apology

During the board meeting on Nov. 13, Adams offered an apology but again said she would not resign.

“I am sorry that my behavior affected the educational process and this has cost the board and administration time, but I truly felt I was speaking as the parent of a disabled child, not as a board member,” she said. “I will not do that in the future, and I am sorry for any problems that it will cause in the trust of the team moving forward. But at this time, I am not willing to step down from the board.”

In addition to her role on the school board, Adams is also an active member of Vashon’s Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SEPAC), a group formed to build community and advocate for special needs students in the Vashon school district.

Censure and another call to resign

The vote to censure Adams came after an introduction of the topic by Rogneby, during which she quoted district policy stating that “the board recognizes that failure to deal with deliberate or continuing violations of law, policies or lapses in good judgement by its school board members risks the loss of community competence and damages the board’s ability to govern effectively.”

Board policy prohibited its members from attacking staff in private or in public, Rogneby said, characterizing Adams’ behavior as “a breach of trust.”

Comments in an ensuing discussion by board members Martha Woodard, Lucia Armenta, River Branch also characterized Adams’ conduct as harmful and unacceptable.

Interim Superintent Moccia — now serving while the board conducts a search to replace former superintedent Slade McSheehy — also weighed in on the discussion, saying that the district’s staff was her responsibility, and that “an attack on any of them is an attack on the superintendent.”

“I find it unconscionable that we would ever allow anyone to be spoken to in that matter, no matter who they are, no matter this issue,” she said, adding that her work in the district had been undermined by Adams’ conduct.

Moccia alluded to past conflicts between the current board and staff that had begun prior to the start of her one-year tenure as interim superintendent.

“I worked very hard with this board to open the doors of trust with the [administrative] team, and I put myself out there with the team to say that this board is working hard to try and rebuild a trusting environment where we can all work together effectively,” she said. “… I feel responsible for the staff that I supervise, and I have apologized profusely to this staff member for not protecting them. I believe we are compromised in our ability to lead, and I am still not sure how we move forward together — that remains to be seen.”

Spencer, the district’s director of teaching and learning, also called on Adams to resign at the board meeting in a public comment, at times speaking on behalf of the district’s administrative leadership team.

“Our governance team depends on confidentiality, professionalism and adherence to protocol,” Spencer said. “When a board member publicly criticizes an administrator’s personal matters or distributes a libelous statement for the larger community to consume, it creates a hostile work environment and damages the district at a time when we are working to attract highly qualified superintendent candidates.”

Addressing Adams directly, Spencer said that “because the trust required to function as a unified governance team has been severely damaged,” the leadership team “did not see a path forward that restores trust while you remain in this role.”

She also called for Adams to deliver a full and unequivocal public apology, acknowledging the harm she had caused.

Adams reflects

In a phone interview on Nov. 15, Adams again ruled out resigning from the board, saying that her most important role on the governing body was as a representative of the special needs community.

“I have been elected,” she said. “I think it is important that our children have a voice and that is what I stood up for and that’s what I’m being retaliated against for.”

Since her post, she said, she had heard from many family members, friends and district staff members who thanked her for it. “I feel like the community as a whole supports me standing up as a mom for my child,” she said.

Although she said she regretted the work her post had caused for the board, Adams also repeated her assertion that her action had not been tied to her board role. The post, she said, came from “me, as mom, sharing my story,” adding that she had been careful to remove names from it.

“I wanted people to know they are not alone,” she said.

The request for her to resign, she said, had “blindsided” her on Nov. 13, after she had just returned to Vashon after her child was released from the hospital. In discussing his multiple disabilities and health issues, she described her quest to obtain public education for him as a “three year battle.”

She also characterized her request for him to receive an accommodation to have support for six hours a week in FamilyLink’s classroom as “reasonable and within the law” as well as compatible with accommodations provided by other school districts.

Rogneby and Moccia

Board Chair Rogneby spoke further on the matter in a statement emailed to The Beachcomber on Nov. 15.

Adams’ social media post, she reiterated, had violated the board’s established operating protocol prohibiting personal attacks, and violated the terms of the board’s contract with Moccia, which states that the “board, individually and collectively, will refer promptly all criticism, complaints, and suggestions relating to the operation of the schools called to its attention to the Interim Superintendent for consideration or action as appropriate.”

The work of the school board, she said, “includes upholding positive regard and respect for our staff, particularly when speaking in public, even if ‘public’ means on a personal Facebook page.”

“School board members have a responsibility at all times to the wider school community,” she said. “This responsibility isn’t something that can be turned on and off situationally.”

Rogneby said that all the board’s members have compassion for the individual situation Adams is currently navigating.

“At the same time, we have a personal and professional responsibility to honor the inherent dignity in all of our colleagues – colleagues who have committed their professional lives to the service of our students and families,” she said. “We are committed to engaging with one another with respect, even when navigating challenging situations.”

In a phone interview the same day, Interim Superintendent Moccia defined the situation in more simple terms.

“We have many policies in place that talk about our way of being, our chain of command and how we deal with complaints and criticism, and those policies weren’t followed,” she said. “It’s never a good idea to bring your complaints to Facebook — it’s not where you get things settled.”

Moccia also reflected on what would come next for the district.

“We have the whole question of how to build trust — which was an issue in the last administration and this one,” Moccia said. “In my opinion, the school board was making inroads toward that position, and now we’re back to square one.”

Correction: In previous versions, The Beachcomber incorrectly stated Kathryn Coleman’s job title. She is the district’s director of student services, not “special services.” We strive for accuracy and regret the error.