Board approves 'last chance' agreement for bus assistant after executive session; superintendent says incident not sexual touching
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Summary
After public questions and an executive session, the Mentor board approved a last-chance agreement for a bus assistant, saying the incident involved innocuous physical contact on a special-needs bus and staff were reassigned and trained; several board members said they voted yes despite reservations and legal constraints.
The Mentor Exempted Village Board of Education on Nov. 11 approved a personnel action that placed an employee on a last-chance agreement after administrators described an incident involving physical contact on a special-needs bus.
A community member, Susan Sednick, raised the item during public comment and asked for transparency after seeing the agenda entry described serious misconduct and a 10-day suspension. "It makes it sound like she's inappropriate with kids," Sednick said, urging the board to be transparent about what had happened.
During discussion, a board member asked to pull the human-resources item for further explanation. The superintendent (speaker 9) told the board and public that, following legal advice, the incident was not "a romantic or a touching in any way type of situation" and that the student had tapped an employee. He said the tapping did not involve an erogenous area and that the employee did not initiate contact. The superintendent said the district had suspended the employee, reassigned that employee to a different route after the suspension, provided instruction on handling similar situations, and proposed a last-chance agreement that would place the employee on notice that future issues could lead to termination.
Board members expressed unease but said legal constraints limited options. One member asked for executive-session discussion to review details; the board voted 5-0 to enter executive session to discuss disciplinary matters and reconvened 24 minutes later. After returning, the board approved human-resources items including the last-chance agreement; roll-call votes repeatedly recorded five yes votes.
The board did not disclose further confidential details in open session. The superintendent and board said the last-chance agreement is meant to clarify expectations and provide notice to the employee that future misconduct could result in termination.
What happens next: The district will implement the last-chance agreement, maintain reassignment and retraining measures described by administrators, and the board indicated staff would follow up on procedural questions raised by members and the public.