Investigation underway as two Rootstown school board members resign
A third board member, Tom Siciliano, told community members, ‘I do not regret my decision’ about his involvement in reversing punishment against a football player
By Lyndsey Brennan
The Rootstown Board of Education accepted the resignations of two of its members, Scott Krieger and Steven Vasbinder, at a regular board meeting Monday evening.
The resignations, effective Sept. 17 and 18, respectively, follow a contentious three-week period that began with head football coach Troy Spiker dismissing a player for using racial slurs against teammates. Spiker and assistant coach Tom Wilson resigned a week ago after Superintendent Andrew Hawkins overturned the punishment at Vasbinder’s insistence.
During last week’s special meeting to address the situation, Vasbinder admitted he called for Spiker’s resignation and asked that the student be reinstated.
Neither Krieger nor Vasbinder gave a reason for his resignation, and board president Amanda Waesch said it is not her or the community’s place to speculate on why they resigned. Between the new vacancies on the board, along with two other members’ expiring terms, four of the five seats on the Board of Education will be on the ballot next year.
The resignations will have no effect on the independent third-party investigation into what transpired with the football team from the start of the season leading up to Spiker’s resignation, Waesch said.
The investigation commenced on Sept. 17 and will wrap up 30 to 45 days from the start date, said middle school Principal Rob Campbell, who is the district liaison in the investigation.
The investigation will produce both factual findings and recommendations for the board’s next steps. Akron-based SACS Consulting & Investigative Services is handling the investigation and will conduct interviews in its place of business, not on campus, Waesch said.
The board’s legal counsel is Peters Kalail & Markakis, a Cleveland-based firm specializing in legal services to Ohio school boards.
Waesch would not comment on the cost of the investigation: “That’s client-attorney privilege at this point.”
Additionally, the resignations will not affect the formation of a community committee focused on diversity, inclusion and cultural awareness, or conversations the school board has planned with the Portage County NAACP about racism and discrimination.
The school board began its conversations with Portage County NAACP President Geraldine Hayes-Nelson and Frank Hairston, the group’s publicity chair, at 6 p.m. last night.
Krieger and Vasbinder’s vacancies must be filled by Nov. 17, Waesch said. Typically, the board would have 30 days to appoint new members, but the Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction extended the deadline to 60 days because of the coronavirus pandemic.
All parties interested in serving on the school board must submit written notification to Waesch by Oct. 2, which will give the board two weeks to conduct interviews with candidates before their next regular meeting on Oct. 19.
The terms for the interim appointees filling Krieger and Vasbinder’s positions will expire in 2021. This means four seats will be up for election in 2021: Eric Kline’s, Tom Siciliano’s and the two interim seats.
During the meeting, five Black men and women spoke to defend Hawkins, calling him a family man, community leader, and volunteer, and saying he is not racist. One woman said Hawkins is a father figure to her 13-year-old Black daughter. Another said she has attended church services with Hawkins and that her grandchildren often spend time at his house.
Other community members responded by saying the issue at hand is not Hawkins’ character but the district’s failure to take a stand against injustice and protect students.
“I believe it’s more systemic than trying to talk about someone’s character. Any of your characters. And I don’t think that’s what’s in question here tonight,” 30-year Rootstown resident Terri Robinson said. “It’s about the experiences of our students. It’s about educating in the right type of environment.”
Sparky Birkett, the father of one of the Black students who was a target of the racial slurs, said “the issue isn’t about Mr. Hawkins. It’s about how [the discipline] was handled. It was handled incorrectly, then correctly, then reversed incorrectly. Now we have the chance to correct that, and that’s what we’re hoping for.”
Board members Waesch and Kline called on community members to be respectful of Krieger and Vasbinder and remember they have families and children who attend the Rootstown schools.
Birkett said that he too has a family. “But my children throughout all of this, they have been attacked online. They have been targeted on the street ever since this has happened,” he said.
Several attendees called on Hawkins to resign.
“I would suggest you have a small window to acknowledge what you did was wrong, resign, and possibly move onto a career elsewhere. If you wait and you have to be removed, it’s unlikely that you’ll find another position,” resident Dan Caruso said, addressing Hawkins.
Resident Matt Bidinger argued that in order for the community to heal, Hawkins must practice transparency moving forward. “If you’re unable to be transparent about the issues, you have no business here, and you need to be done,” he said.
Toward the end of the meeting, Rootstown resident Cherie Harris asked Hawkins and Siciliano if they regretted the decision to reinstate the football player.
“A decision was made. Look where we’re at. My hope is that we’ll turn this around into something positive,” Hawkins said, noting that this is the time to “start having critical conversations, start making real change and come together.”
He added, “As the process goes, the investigation will show what it’s going to show. What happens will happen. We’re at where we’re at. But we hope that, moving forward as a community, we will not have this situation occur again.”
Siciliano’s response was more to the point. “No, I do not regret my decision,” he said without elaborating further.
Harris also asked what policies are in place if the same situation were to happen today.
“We do have policies in place,” Hawkins said, though he did not explain what they are. “I think one of the things this committee wants moving forward is having more detailed policies and procedures and protocols.”
After hearing these responses, Birkett and several students stood and walked out.
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