TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - Washington Local Schools Superintendent Patrick Hickey has been put on paid administrative leave while the school board investigates recent allegations that he acted inappropriately.
Wednesday, board of education members were in executive session for more than two and a half hours to discuss whether Hickey violated a letter of reprimand asking him to exercise better judgment in his interactions with staff members.
Board member Patricia Carmean recently said Hickey was harassing her. The police report mentions an email sent to hundreds of co-workers casting Carmean in a negative light. It goes on to say Carmean had been receiving text messages to her cell phone from Hickey.
The board also planned to discuss Patricia Carmean's public interactions with Superintendent Hickey, and they'll seek to arrange mediation between the two of them.
That isn't the first complaint against Hickey. In September, Hickey was suspended during an investigation into inappropriate behavior with another coworker, and several emails surfaced supporting that coworker's claims.
When board members returned, they said discussions inside executive session were private, but it was announced Hickey is on paid administrative leave while board members investigate the allegations.
"In this particular instance, I have asked Mr. Hickey to be on administrative leave," said Thomas Ilstrup, board president. "He is being paid, he is not being punished, and he has agreed to that so that we can get this concluded just as quickly as possible, again, and move this district forward."
Board member David Hunter says rumors have been tearing the district apart, and he's ready to find the truth and move on.
"We are, once again, going to have an investigation into all these charges. We are hearing charges from right and from left, from people on this side, people from that side. We are going to do an investigation and we're going to stop with that," said Hunter. "When the investigation is over, this district goes back to 100 percent students. We cannot continue to do what's happening in this district."
Hickey was notably absent from the meeting, but people attending were more concerned about Carmean. Some say she's attacking Hickey on a personal vendetta, while others says she's full of integrity.
"We feel that, at this time, that Ms. Carmean doesn't have the best interest of Washington Local at heart," said Melanie Garcia. "We feel that she has, in a lot of ways, violated the code of ethics by doing things on her own, not as a board member, but on her own, and we ask that
she resign."
"When she tells me what happened, I believe her," said Marti Fisher, a friend of Carmean's. "All these allegations against her - she has not done anything wrong. There isn't one thing that she has done wrong, so I don't understand this petition."
