At the Aug. 14 meeting of the Mercer Island School Board, Superintendent Fred Rundle, school board members,and residents responded to the Mercer Island Reporter’s coverage of sexual abuse allegations against former high school teacher Chris Twombley.
Reading a prepared statement, Rundle condemned Twombley’s conduct as “appalling, beyond inappropriate, and a violation of the trusting responsibility” and acknowledged community reactions, stating, “your feelings of shock, disbelief, anger, confusion, betrayal, and sadness are real and justified.” He said the district’s focus “has always been on honoring the student at the center of this horrible situation by safeguarding her privacy, protecting students and following the law.”
Board Director Deborah Lurie highlighted her professional legal duty as a mandatory reporter: “I am required by law to report allegations of abuse or neglect to the appropriate authorities.” She voiced her approval of the district leadership’s handling of the situation. “The question is whether leadership acted with sound judgement, adherence to the law, and unwavering commitment to student safety. My answer is yes.”
Saying that she was speaking on her own behalf rather than as Board President, Maggie Tai Tucker said, “my concern throughout the situation has been to do my best to respect the privacy and honor the request of the victim.” Disagreeing with claims that the misconduct was covered up, she stated, “When a public records request was made, the district released the records. That’s pretty much the exact opposite of a cover-up.”
Board Director Cristina Martinez stressed the importance of supporting survivors. “Please know that you have a community behind you, and we are supporting you, not him,” she said. “This should have not happened to anybody, period,” adding, “we have to take this as an opportunity so we don’t just discuss [it].”
Board Director Jody Lee said the district honored the victim’s requests of protecting her confidentiality and preventing Twombley from teaching again. She criticized how the incident was publicized. “It is beyond the pale for someone to take information they learned in a confidential setting and present selective details for political purposes or to settle scores.”
Board Director Dan Glowitz disagreed that the publicization of the alleged sexual abuse was a violation of the victim’s privacy. “The one thing that I take issue with is this idea that the only way to protect the identity of the victim is to protect the identity of the perpetrator.” He also criticized the severance agreement that left Twombley with pension benefits and argued the district “has a problem with transparency, a problem with cover-ups” that allows predators to continue to prey.
Public input reveals sharp divides
Several residents and PTA leaders emphasized the importance of confidentiality.
PTA council vice president of advocacy Mar Brettman said: “Confidentiality is not only respectful, it is essential for safety,” warning that taking a survivor’s story without consent “could be as traumatizing as the assault itself.” Island Park PTA advocacy vice president Kim Florence addressed the victim directly: “You own your story, not the Mercer Island Reporter, not any candidate for office, not even MISD.”
School board candidate Julian Bradley echoed privacy concerns saying “our community has now failed the affected student twice. First, by failing to protect them from gender based abuse by a trusted educator, and again by publicizing this story against their explicit wishes.” He also used public comment time to raise allegations of past misconduct against his former election opponent, who had helped expose Twombley’s misconduct and later announced he was withdrawing from the race.
Leslie Malakoti and Frank Schott echoed concerns about victim privacy. Malakoti urged the community to “step back from keyboards” and have “conversations about balancing the public right to know with the victim’s right to privacy.” Schott called for referring sexual assaults to police, and stressed “terminations without settlement are incredibly hard to achieve in this day and age,” and the district “took every step” to ensure Twombley would not return to teaching.
Other speakers were more critical of how the district handled the incident and demanded transparency and accountability. School board candidate Robert O’Callahan called the district’s actions “a betrayal of trust” and demanded an independent investigation and the resignation of Superintendent Rundle, district legal counsel and board members.
Former board director David Myerson and former PTA president Joci Besecker were both troubled that the first allegation was dated in 2015, while Myerson was on the board. “It boggles the mind that it was essentially pushed under the rug,” said Myerson, arguing, “even though it was an anonymous report, it could have been investigated.” Besecker criticized the district’s actions and said, “Choosing to protect this predator over protecting our children is inexcusable.”
Some warned of broader issues with the school culture. Elizabeth Buckley, a court-appointed special advocate, and Ashley Sternberg, a parent and school volunteer, both cited anonymous comments on Reddit from purported former MIHS students about other inappropriate teacher behavior. Buckley urged, “I invite you to not just dismiss all of this and say it’s something political.” Sternberg said, “This is a lot more common than people would expect,” and said, “I want to know why we have a culture where kids don’t feel safe commenting publicly.” Former city councilmember Tom Acker described what he saw as a “pattern of neglect” and told the board: “You guys have become the story now.”
The rest of the school board meeting information can be found here.
Linnea Augustine is a freelance journalist for the Mercer Island Reporter, a longtime resident, longtime supporter of the Mercer Island Schools Foundation, community volunteer, and Rotary Club member.
