Central SD 13J parent warns of repeated assaults, supervision gaps and past network vulnerabilities

Amanda Sloan, a parent of students at Tallmadge and Independence elementary schools, told the Central School District 13J board she is “really concerned about the safety at both of these schools,” describing repeated incidents and insufficient follow-up from administrators. She said her daughter has been physically assaulted three times and that school staff did not notify her until her daughter fought back. Sloan also reported that students were able to access pirated websites from district Chromebooks and that she alerted the district months before a later ransomware attack.

Sloan said that, despite her attempts to raise the issue with administrators and the district office, she did not receive a callback. “I almost wonder if I had come to a board meeting then and followed my gut…could I have possibly prevented the disaster,” she said, referring to the subsequent cybersecurity incident.

Sloan described persistent bullying, including hate speech and slurs in hallways and repeated lack of supervision during recess and PE. She said special-education students were frequently targeted and sometimes left consoling their peers when staff were not present.

Board members acknowledged the comments and thanked Sloan for raising safety concerns. The board’s public-comment rules and district complaint policy were referenced as the required channels for personnel complaints, and the chair said the remarks would be taken under advisement so staff could review the issues raised.

The board did not take any immediate action on the floor; Sloan asked that the district follow up and indicated she had already attempted several administrative channels prior to speaking at the meeting. The district’s formal complaint-policy reference was noted during the meeting; callers and speakers were directed to the policy and online form for personnel-related complaints.