MISD webinar focuses on student safety amid misconduct allegations

Published 2:00 pm Thursday, October 30, 2025

While Mercer Island School District (MISD) Superintendent Fred Rundle and others participated in an Oct. 29 webinar, he noted, “Nothing should be more important than student safety.” Social, emotional and physical safety, he added.

At the nearly two-hour district-hosted “Student Safety and Well-Being Webinar,” Rundle along with Assistant Superintendent of Compliance, Legal Affairs and Human Resources Erin Battersby and Mercer Island High School (MIHS) Principal Nick Wold answered a host of community questions regarding InvestigateWest’s recent report on sexual misconduct allegations against former MIHS teacher Curtis Johnston and more.

The webinar was also held to “inform our community about the tangible steps MISD is taking to protect students in the wake of this news,” according to the district.

Sarah Karim, Mercer Island PTA Council president, and Debbie Nelson, Mercer Island PTA Council president-elect, led the webinar.

Karim noted, “This conversation tonight is about bringing forward the wide breadth and depth of concerns that families have from what has emerged.” She said that more than 150 people submitted more than 270 questions for the discussion.

Questions were raised about communications and transparency, investigations, student safety and reporting, culture and prevention, and accountability and leadership decisions.

Regarding investigations, Rundle noted, in part: “Everyone has a responsibility to take in a report. Once that report is made, in some cases the principal or the assistant principal will take that report and begin that investigation.” He added that police and Child Protective Services head up their own investigations — which sometimes are done together. In the Johnston case, the school district is opening its own independent investigation.

Rundle was also asked about the case of former MIHS teacher Gary “Chris” Twombley, who was accused of sexually abusing or inappropriately pursuing at least two teenage students, according to an InvestigateWest/Mercer Island Reporter story in August. The story added that he was put on paid administrative leave in 2023 for over a year before his formal resignation in February 2025.

Regarding informing school families about that case, Rundle said, in part: “Thinking about the survivor student and thinking about the circumstances there, that was one where we didn’t go right to the families with that.” As he told the MIHS Islander newspaper, he doesn’t regret upholding the wishes of a victim who never wanted to come forward.

In the case of Johnston, Rundle said: “That came through the media in terms of the sexual nature of that and so that was already out so we quickly moved forward to notify the community of what was happening.”

One way that students can report concerns and not face retaliation is through the district’s anonymous See Something, Say Something app, according to Battersby. Community members and adults can utilize that reporting system as well.

“We make it more accessible to students by leveraging the one-to-one devices we have, so there’s actually an app on their device, which a lot of students use to report their concerns. Those concerns can be about other students, they can be about themselves and their own well-being, they can be about staff,” she said.

When Wold interviewed MIHS students about the Johnston case, he learned that many of the Islanders don’t want to risk their safety by making a report.

Wold added that they want information from students: “That’s why our administrative team and other leaders will do our best work to ensure that retaliation will not happen on our watch.”

When asked about what specific information is required for a report to be considered credible and therefore trigger an investigation, both Rundle and Battersby said all reports are credible and should be taken seriously.

“If something feels off, tell us, and we’ll do our best,” Battersby said.

Karim said that harm has been done, betrayal has occurred and the community is struggling with transparency, communication and accountability.

“Clearly, tonight was our first of conversations to try and understand some of what the community was bringing forward and is on their minds. We hope that tonight is just the start of being able to continue to answer those questions,” Karim said.

Wold — who connected with a group of parents, spoke live on the school’s radio station and met with student leaders and faculty on the morning when the Johnston news broke — said MIHS has fantastic educators who love their kids and do the right things so often. Both Battersby and Rundle echoed Wold’s comments about educators and staff.

“I’m here to champion them (educators) and our kids that have real pain and our families that have real hurt that are inside of this that we’re going to do this thing right,” said Wold.

The MISD has just formed a Student Safety and Wellbeing Committee and will hold its first meeting on Nov. 4. The committee will include 30 students, parents, staff, administrators, community leaders and external partners, according to a previous Reporter article. Each year, all MISD staff members complete Vector (Safe Schools) training focused on child abuse prevention, sexual misconduct, and professional boundaries.

Battersby said the district needs to take this situation as an opportunity to be better because the kids deserve it.

“I’ve heard from so many community members the past couple weeks and even at the start of the year. This is painful,” she said.

Closing out the webinar, Rundle said he’s incredibly disheartened, frustrated and angry about the recent MIHS situation: “I regret we’re here and I’m sorry.”

He mentioned a saying that he heard at a recent training session that focused on student safety around violence at school. He felt it was appropriate to share at the webinar: “We’re all on duty… parents, staff, community members. We’re on duty to take care of our kids.”

To view the full webinar, go to MISD’s YouTube channel at https://tinyurl.com/khrrmb8x