The more things change, the more they stay the same. Fairfield City Schools has taken great strides this year to get the bullying problems under control. Nothing is perfect, but the district is taking the issue seriously now, and even hosted a seminar on the subject that was a great success. Staff and administrators are engaged on bullying issues and things are getting done. The future is bright.
It has been a stupendous turnaorund. Superintendent Billy Smith deserves all the credit in the world.
But there is still the little item no one wants to talk about - accountability (or more to the point, a lack of it) for the small number of district employees with dirty hands in the Emilie Olsen case. All the good Fairfield City Schools has accomplished this year is almost null and void when one considers that nobody has been held accountable at the district for any amount of wrongdoing in the Emilie Olsen bullying suicide coverup.
We were disturbed and saddened this week to read in the Fairfield Board of Education meeting minutes from May 17, that School and Community Relations Director Gina Gentry-Fletcher was given a contract extension until 2022. While it is beyond question that Ms.Gentry-Fletcher had no dealings with Emilie Olsen during that child's young life, which ended on December 11, 2014; the actions of the district's Community Relations Director since that day have been highly questionable, as we will demonstrate in great detail. The lack of any sort of accountability for Ms.Gentry-Fletcher, coupled with multiple pay raises and now a contract extension, exhibits why there is no accountability at Fairfield City Schools.
Despite worldwide negative publicity about Emilie's story, a federal lawsuit, and two more bullied to death students, nothing has really changed. There can't be real change without accountability.
Gina Gentry-Fletcher's role in the Emilie Olsen case began over the weekend following Thursday December 11, 2014. In the days following Emilie's suicide, the entire community was rocked by rumors of her having been bullied. The rumors were seemingly vindicated by a WCPO news story on the Sunday 11 PM broadcast, covering an impromptu vigil thrown by Emilie's friends at her home, where classmates echoed claims she had been harassed.
In an effort to put the rumors to rest, Gina Gentry-Fletcher issued this statement to local media on December 15, 2014 at 2:31 PM. Fairfield City Schools categorically denied Emilie Olsen was bullied, or that the district was ever notified she had been harassed:
Then, just a few hours later, Ms.Gentry-Fletcher released a different statement to the local press, acknowledging Emilie had been bullied at one time, but that the district believed the issue had been addressed:
So what changed? How did Fairfield and Ms.Gentry-Fletcher's position evolve over a mere 3 hours from vehemently denying Emilie was bullied, to admitting she had been, albeit in a previous academic year?
It started with an email from WCPO reporter Jay Warren to Gina Gentry-Fletcher at 4:31 that day. As you can see below, he asked whether or not Emilie's dad, Marc Olsen, had been in contact with Fairfield Middle School Assistant Principal Mark Rice about bullying.
E-mails began pouring in to Ms.Gentry-Fletcher's inbox that afternoon. These messages were forwarded communications between Emilie's dad and her assistant principal that Jay Warren had been asking about. As you can read below, Gina Gentry-Fletcher was made aware of bullying complaints Emilie's dad had made to administration at Fairfield Middle School throughout the Fall of 2014. Ms.Gentry-Fletcher then forwarded these e-mails between Mr.Rice and Marc Olsen on to Superintendent Paul Otten. See for yourself:
This paper trail is important. It establishes that as early as December 15 – before the media and public scrutiny reached its zenith – that the public relations director and the superintendent were in possession of information that proved Emilie Olsen really was bullied, that Fairfield was notified about it, and that harassment included at least some of the torment she endured that current academic year in 2014 at the Middle School.
Thusly, any further communication from Public Relations Director Gina Gentry-Fletcher or Superintendent Paul Otten where Emilie’s bullying was denied has to be questioned, given the e-mail activities of December 15, 2014. Why, in several subsequent communications to the public, media, Board of Education members and others, did Ms. Gentry-Fletcher deny Emilie had been bullied when they she was in possession of correspondence from Marc Olsen complaining in specific terms about his daughter being harassed?
The following day, Gina Gentry-Fletcher sent this email to the Board of Education, where she claims again that the only bullying concerns registered by Emilie's father involved incidents from the previous academic year:
The following day, Gina Gentry-Fletcher sent this email to the Board of Education, where she claims again that the only bullying concerns registered by Emilie's father involved incidents from the previous academic year:
Now scroll back above to the image of that last e-mail Mr.Rice forwarded to Ms.Gentry-Fletcher. You can see clearly in that e-mail from September 8th, specific bullying ongoing that academic year is mentioned. Look for yourself. Mr.Olsen describes how Emilie was enduring "gestures/noises" in class that she found disruptive. Sounds like bullying to us.
So why did Gina Gentry-Fletcher say that there were no reports of bullying about Emilie, or that he father was focusing strictly on complaints regarding harassment only in 6th grade?
Also on December 16th, 2014, Ms.Gentry-Fletcher sent this e-mail below to WCPO, claiming that the reports about Emilie being bullied were rumors being generated by kids just wanting to get on TV. How kind of her.
Later that week in December 2014, the Journal-News ran a story about Emilie. It turned out the district had removed anti-bullying posters from the walls of the high school. This was done, according to Ms.Gentry-Fletcher because they referred "to the deceased student as having been bullied and that information is unsubstantiated."
Gina Gentry-Fletcher told the Journal-News that reports of Emilie being bullied were unsubstantiated, despite being in possession of e-mails sent by her father alleging that she had been.
As 2014 winded to a close, Emilie's case mostly disappeared from the headlines until May 2015, when the WCPO I-Team came out with a blockbuster report that blew the lid off the story. It was proven beyond question Fairfield City Schools was lying when it claimed Emilie Olsen was not bullied, or that the district had any knowledge of such. You can read that story here, or watch it here:
The fallout stemming from the bombshell report once more put Fairfield into the unwanted limelight of negative publicity. Public Relations Director Gina Gentry-Fletcher's actions and words in the days following WCPO's report raises many questions about her conduct and professionalism.
On the morning following the WCPO story being aired, Ms.Gentry-Fletcher informed district leaders they would no longer respond to interview requests from the Journal-News. The reason for this was because the Journal simply passed along what WCPO had reported. This hardly seems professional to us. You can read the e-mail below...where it's alleged the reporting is false, but neither Ms.Gentry-Fletcher or anyone else at Fairfield could say why.
The e-mails, this time filled with contempt for Emilie's supporters, continued later on that May 15, 2015. In the communication below, Ms.Gentry-Fletcher derides those concerned about bullying as having mere "Facebook courage." She even wanted armed police on hand at that evening's Board of Education meeting. See for yourself:
Following that May 15, 2015 Board meeting, Gina Gentry-Fletcher very professionally informed WCPO "we're done with you."
What a way to represent our community, right? You can watch more about that outburst here, courtesy of WCPO. Luckily, cooler heads eventually prevailed and Fairfield City Schools' leadership decided not to pursue a boycott on conversing with WCPO or the Journal-News. But the incident shows a lack of control and professionalism all the same.
On May 16th, 2015, Gina Gentry-Fletcher sent an e-mail which should raise even more eyebrows. Please read for yourself the May 16, 2015 e-mail exchange between the district spokesperson and Instructional Specialist Lori Wegman:
This e-mail exchange between district employees - even if we had not conclusively proven it to be a pack of complete lies - raises some very troubling questions about Fairfield City Schools.
Why is the Public Relations Director speaking about the Emilie Olsen case at all with a frontline staff member? Why is Fairfield speaking about private details of Emilie's case with district employees, while cowering behind student privacy laws to the public? Has FERPA - the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act - been violated?
We'll wait with bated breath for an explanation from Fairfield City Schools. But there are other questions that need asking too:
Have student privacy laws been violated here? Has professional misconduct taken place under Ohio Department of Education regulations? Is this e-mail one more example in a long pattern of abuses and misconduct by Fairfield City Schools? Does this e-mail only provide further proof of a pattern of conduct by Fairfield City Schools that resulted in Emilie Olsen being deprived of her civil rights under federal law?
We think so. What do you think?
As a reward for all the actions we have chronicled above, Gina Gentry-Fletcher has enjoyed 3 pay raises since 2014, for a total bump in salary of 18%. You can check out the facts here, at the Dayton Daily News I-Team project. See for yourself:
So where do we go from here? Nowheresville, apparently. Public Relations Director Gina Gentry-Fletcher will be passing Go and collecting $73,543 a year, at least, until 2022 and likely beyond.
There is no accountability for anyone employed at Fairfield City Schools on a wide variety of subjects, with the Emilie Olsen incident being only one glaring example. How can a public relations official tell the community, local reporters, school staff, and even the Board of Education repeatedly there was no evidence Emilie Olsen was bullied or that allegations of such had been made that academic year, when she had been presented e-mails early on in this saga stating that very thing? How can a public relations director tell local reporters that Emilie's friends were just saying she was bullied to get on TV? How can a public relations director tersely tell two local media outlets "we're done with you," in a fit of rage and frustration? How can a public relations director deride and dismiss community members concerned about bullying as having only "Facebook courage?"
How can a public relations director discuss particulars of Emilie's life and story with a frontline staff member who has no business being informed of such details? Was the law violated?
How can a public relations director get away with all this?
In a school district like Fairfield, where everyone has gotten away with misconduct in the Emilie Olsen case, it's easy to understand how a public relation director would not only skate by despite the outrageous actions detailed above, but actually receive hefty pay raises. Not a single employee of Fairfield City Schools has been reprimanded, suspended, fired, or in any way sanctioned for the Emilie Olsen case.
Where is the accountability?
There is no accountability for anyone employed at Fairfield City Schools on a wide variety of subjects, with the Emilie Olsen incident being only one glaring example. How can a public relations official tell the community, local reporters, school staff, and even the Board of Education repeatedly there was no evidence Emilie Olsen was bullied or that allegations of such had been made that academic year, when she had been presented e-mails early on in this saga stating that very thing? How can a public relations director tell local reporters that Emilie's friends were just saying she was bullied to get on TV? How can a public relations director tersely tell two local media outlets "we're done with you," in a fit of rage and frustration? How can a public relations director deride and dismiss community members concerned about bullying as having only "Facebook courage?"
How can a public relations director discuss particulars of Emilie's life and story with a frontline staff member who has no business being informed of such details? Was the law violated?
How can a public relations director get away with all this?
In a school district like Fairfield, where everyone has gotten away with misconduct in the Emilie Olsen case, it's easy to understand how a public relation director would not only skate by despite the outrageous actions detailed above, but actually receive hefty pay raises. Not a single employee of Fairfield City Schools has been reprimanded, suspended, fired, or in any way sanctioned for the Emilie Olsen case.
Where is the accountability?
There is none at Fairfield City Schools. This lack of accountability casts a long shadow over any good the district seeks to do on a going forward basis. We will not forget Emilie Olsen. We won't forget the actions of Fairfield City Schools. Her memory and the factual record will survive until there is some justice.
