One Talawanda board member is calling for the resignation of one of his fellow school board members.

Pat Meade, a Talawanda Board of Education member, called for Dawn King to resign at the March 26, special session meeting. 

The request comes from Dawn King’s involvement in a breach of information that came to light late last year. The breach included accessing the Talawanda Google calendar without authorization. Dawn King failed to report the security problem to the administration, and instead, accessed private information without authorization about students and the superintendent. 

Talawanda immediately took action when it discovered the vulnerability after the Dec. 19 meeting. According to Rebecca Howard, the board member president, the district fixed the issue, notified other districts of the potential concern and accepted responsibility for the violation. 

Scotty King, Dawn King’s husband, reported the compromise at the Dec. 19 board of education meeting. Scotty King revealed that anyone could access private student and faculty information, including students’ Individualized Education Programs (IEP), through Google calendar if they had a Talawanda email.

At the same time as Scotty King’s testimony, Sean Brooks, a community member who does not have any children at Talawanda, posted step-by-step instructions on how to access student and faculty information, as well as pages of private student details on social media. 

“ If you think about that, Sean Brooks does not have an email or phone number attached to Talawanda, which meant this was a prearranged activity,” Meade said in an interview.

At the March 26 special session board meeting, Molly and Andrew Farler, Oxford residents and Talawanda parents, addressed the issue again, because Brooks posted screenshots of their son’s IEP and IEP calendar meetings. They said someone should be held accountable for the breach of their son’s records, which was done with Dawn King’s email address.

An investigation by the district and board revealed this information, but Talawanda is still determining who assisted Brooks in the security breach.  The school has asked Oxford Police to look into the issue.

“I think every person in this room wants to know the results of that investigation,” Molly Farler said. “That’s why we are here tonight. We read many comments from people online who are demanding transparency and accountability from the Talawanda school district and the board of education.”

Meade recalls Dawn King expressing confusion about the breach at the December meeting and wanting to take action and get to the bottom of the problem. 

The investigation revealed the Google calendar breach began Dec. 8, 14 days before the December meeting. It later exposed Dawn King’s email searching through superintendent Ed Theroux’s email account and IEPs that Sean Brooks posted. 

“She looked at that very thing that he [Brooks] posted and what she looked at on her own,” Meade said. “And then acted like she didn’t know what was going on.”

The investigation has not yet confirmed whether the Kings and Brooks directly worked together, but Meade said he wants justice either way. 

“ The bottom line is you have a school board member that instead of handling things through appropriate channels, chose to do take actions that caused the violation of the rights of the student and their parents because they were political enemies,” Meade said. “ I believe she did this hoping that it would show her belief of the district’s and Dr. Theroux’s incompetence.” 

Dawn King did not respond to the Oxford Observer’s request to comment on this issue.

The district turned all evidence over to the police. Some community members are trying to recall her elected position, but need 500 signatures. Meade said he plans to file a complaint to the Ohio Ethics Commission, censure her in future meetings and continue to advocate for her resignation. 

“It is my belief no one should be on a school board if their agenda is not about the physical safety of our students, their education and is willing to support their privacy,” Meade said in the meeting.