SHELBY — Tensions were high at the Shelby Board of Education meeting Monday evening as the fallout continues from an incident between two Shelby elementary students and their gym teacher.
The Board of Education meeting moved to the Shelby High School Auditorium due to the sheer number of people in attendance, many of them sporting matching red t-shirts in support of Bob DeLauder, a Dowds Elementary School physical education teacher.
DeLauder is currently on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into a Feb. 13 incident involving two students at Dowds Elementary. DeLauder has been on paid administrative leave since Feb. 15.
The incident in question involves two third grade students who were disciplined during gym class at Dowds Elementary on Feb. 13. A security camera video shows two students exiting the gymnasium, and one student ending up on the hallway floor. That video was provided to Richland Source by the parents of the student shown sliding across the hallway floor on his backside.
The father of that 9-year-old student recounted the incident to the Shelby Board of Education on Monday, and expressed frustration and disappointment in the way the incident was handled by Shelby Superintendent Tim Tarvin.
“I’m just appalled at how this type of event can happen,” the father stated. “I don’t want Mr. DeLauder fired, I don’t want him to resign to cover this up any further, that’s not what we’re asking for. We’re here because this should’ve never been done or taken to this extreme. We’re here because of how this was handled.”
Both parents of the student expressed frustration on Monday that the school district would initially not allow them to view the security camera footage of the incident. Tarvin explained withholding security videos is due to federal law.
“It’s not that I would’ve not released the video, it’s that I wanted to make sure we were not violating anyone’s FERPA rights – the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act,” Tarvin explained. “That states that without consent, a parent does not have the right to view a video with other kids in it.
“It’s not that we were trying to be evasive, we were trying to uphold federal law until our attorney could make a decision that was relative to the case.”
A Shelby Police Department report written by Capt. Dave Mack states that on the evening of Feb. 14, the parents of the two students involved along with Mack, Tarvin, Board of Education President Lorie White and board member Scott Rose met at the Board of Education office to view an angle of the video that showed only the students involved to comply with FERPA law.
A parent in Monday’s audience pointed out that a second video of the Feb. 13 incident was shown in a Cleveland 19 News report on Feb. 24. The second video shows the moments before the initial video view of the hallway, inside the Dowds Elementary gymnasium with a class of students.
Tarvin stated that particular video angle was not released by the school district. The mother of the student involved in the incident said the video was released to Cleveland 19 News by the Shelby Police Department.
“Cleveland 19 News got the inside video from the Shelby Police,” the mother said. “I asked them how they went about doing that, because we’ve been fighting to get these videos. He said he made a simple request and Shelby Police gave it to them.”
“We wanted to see the inside video because we wanted to see what escalated this; we wanted to see with our eyes why it got the way it did,” added the father.
Mack told Richland Source that the parents of the two students involved in the incident were given copies of both the gymnasium video and the hallway video on Feb. 16.
“I personally burned the videos after a public records request, I tested the videos, and when (the mother) came to pick the videos up she was most interested in seeing the video from inside the gym, so if it hadn’t worked I know she would’ve told me,” Mack said. “If she said she did not have those videos, that is 100 percent not true.”
The parents of the student also expressed frustration that the video footage was not immediately given to Richland County Children Services. The father stated that Kristin Kaple-Jones, principal of Dowds Elementary School, had contacted Children Services the day following the Feb. 13 incident with DeLauder.
“Later we found out that Children Services was contacted and basically screened out,” the father said. “They weren’t given all the evidence, they weren’t given the video, so they were out of the picture.”
Tarvin stated that Kaple-Jones invited Children Services to watch the video of the incident on Feb. 14, the day after it occurred. The father told Richland Source on Feb. 17 that Children Services has re-opened a case with DeLauder upon receiving new evidence relating to the incident, and stated again on Monday that Children Services was still investigating the incident.
Carl Hunnell, supervisor of public information for Richland County Children Services, said state privacy laws prohibit the agency from confirming or denying involvement in specific cases.
Lorie White, president of the Shelby Board of Education, stated at the beginning of Monday’s meeting that it is not the practice of the board to comment on items that involve personnel and students.
“That being said, please don’t assume that means we’re agreeing or disagreeing with what you’re saying, and we also don’t want you to think it means we don’t care,” White said. “We’re deeply affected by your opinions on matters that affect the school.”
Instead, many comments were made by audience members in support of DeLauder, from former colleagues to parents to students. DeLauder, a 31-year veteran of Shelby City Schools, has also served as playground supervisor at Dowds Elementary as well as coach of the district’s wrestling and track and field teams.
DeLauder’s personnel file, viewed by Richland Source on Feb. 17, reflects years of positive reviews from supervisors, making mention of his students’ participation in gym class and his positive rapport with pupils. Terry Zuercher, a resident of Shelby since 1969 and former coworker of DeLauder’s, said the incident as it was described was not the man he knew.
“If I was thinking of any employee that would be least likely to endanger a student, it would be Bob DeLauder,” Zuercher said. “I’ve never seen him swear, I’ve never seen him act out. And I’m speaking about the man, not the incident.”
Ali Maynard, a former student of DeLauder’s at Dowds, said while she was in elementary school she always looked forward to gym class with “Mr. D.”
“I understand how the family is upset, my brother is a really good friend of (the student’s), but Mr. D is a great guy and he’s a great teacher and coach,” Maynard said. “He’s a great person in this community, so I’d like to see him still be a part of this community.”
Another former student of DeLauder’s, Alex Kaple, argued that while he was fond of DeLauder, teachers should be held to a certain standard of behavior.
“It doesn’t matter if he’s a nice guy, if he’s loved by everybody and a great coach, people make mistakes,” Kaple said. “I would encourage everybody to step back and detach from the fact that they love this man.
“That’s great, that’s fine, but he messed up, and 30 great years of work might be out the window because of one little mistake. You’re held to a standard and you have to abide by that and honor that.”
One audience member criticized Kaple’s decision to post the video of the incident on Facebook, which was shared more than 200 times and viewed more than 6,000 times before it was removed. Kaple apologized, saying the post was a rash decision made out of frustration.
“It probably wasn’t the right way to go about doing things,” Kaple said. “I hold myself accountable for that.”
“Everybody’s allowed to make one mistake,” responded an audience member.
