The Board Finally Speaks

It’s always interesting to see how the rats scurry when the lights come on, isn’t it?

Today, the Board at Oak Hill sent out what they are calling a “Message from the Board.” In it, they detail, as they say, “some challenges … in the community that the Board is committed to working through.”

Oak Hill’s Mission

The Board starts with some pandering by stating “The passion we have for this school stems from the impact that its teachers and staff have had on our own children.”

This sets up the obvious question of: Is that impact always positive?

Next, they cite Oak Hill’s mission, “to create a safe space for students, families, and community members to thrive as they collaborate to learn, to celebrate, and to serve one another.”

We asked the Executive Director, Shirley Volk, about that mission in our first in person meeting, which you can listen to on the Voice Recordings page. When asked how the actions of Emily Bowar, to isolate, publicly humiliate, and, in turn, abuse our daughter, aligned with that mission. Her answer was… less than impressive.

And if the vision is to create a safe space, why did the Executive Director, the Board, and the authorizer all defend the abuse of our child?

Staff Departures

They then move on to staff departures, noting that three highly qualified and experienced staff members, with a combined 35 years at Oak Hill, are leaving. They also note that the Executive Director is leaving, which she cited as health related.

The final name listed is the cousin of our daughter, who also filed a complaint about the abuse with the Minnesota Department of Education, back in March.

It should be noted that he did not voluntarily leave, but was informed that he would not be offered a contract for next school year, and was no longer need for the rest of this year. Ms. Volk took this action just a short time before she then announced her resignation from the school.

Just another example of retaliation and spitefulness from her. A reminder that dismissing an employee from employment within 90 days of filing a complaint against the school is a violation of state law. One last, petty act on her way out the door.

Sure, though. I’m bet his departure is “bittersweet.”

Abuse

The board then goes on to note that they are “incredibly heartbroken regarding abuse allegations that were made by a parent recently.”

Interesting that they are now heartbroken, only after the abuse was made public, despite remaining completely silent on the issues, despite being informed multiple times of the abuse, and the defense of that abuse, by their hand selected Executive Director.

The continue on by noting:

We recognize and acknowledge that our current circumstances at Oak Hill may feel tumultuous

and cause great concern for you. As a board, we understand what it feels like to be in your

shoes. Many of us are parents and have children at Oak Hill right now. We want to let you know

that we remain confident that Oak Hill will deliver upon its Mission while adhering to our Core

Values. Our priority is always to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, staff and

families.

They understand what it feels like to be in your shoes, and that many of them are parents and have kids at Oak Hill. Where was this empathy when they could have been helpful to our daughter? Where was the empathy, as parents and parents of students at the school, when they, collectively, and individually, ignored multiple emails asking for their help?

It rings rather hollow, at this point, to now be concerned. No concern for our daughter. No concern ever, to this day, for her well being. Just concern for the institution, and how to heal “the community.”

In the “What Happens Next” portion of the message, the Board writes:

We are working to put a plan into place to provide an open forum for the community to

discuss the accusations that were made by a parent recently, and to begin the healing

process as a community. We know many of you may have a lot of questions and we

want to answer as many as we can. At the same time we want to help the community

understand the role of the board in situations such as these. We cannot specifically

address many of the accusations being made, as we have a fiduciary responsibility to

maintain student privacy. However, we can share that an internal investigation was

done to understand the parents' concern and that an investigation is still in process from

the Minnesota Department of Education.

It’s interesting to note that the Board told us that a public discussion could not be had. That only a closed door session could be offered. No healing was offered to us. Just a cold wall of silence, and meeting not open to anyone else so no one would know what was happening.

Also of note is that the “internal investigation” that was conducted was done by the person, Ms. Volk, who stands accused of defending abuse. It was conducted by a woman that lied to us, multiple times. That use gaslighting as her go-to conversational style to dismiss our concerns before she ever lifted a finger to “investigate.” The “investigation” also never included a single conversation with a student.

Ask yourself: If the police, a lawyer, or anyone else, were investigating an accusation, would they not want to speak with the victim, and other potential victims? Would they just ask the accused, “Hey did you abuse this child,” and when they say “no,” shrug and say, “well, that’s it, must not be true”?

MOChA

The Board then move on to the authorizer, MOChA.

The head of MOChA, David Peterson, is the one that ignored our requests for help because he was too busy on vacation, playing with his grandchildren. He then went on to ignore our formal complaint for over a month, then somehow completed a thorough investigation in less than a day, and told us that Oak Hill had done nothing wrong.

But now they “noted that in the first three years of the school as a charter entity, the board and administration have designed and implemented systems that are highly functional and have led to success in student learning, financial stability, and effective leadership of the school. MOChA has indicated to us that they feel strongly that we have the pieces in place to continue to move the school forward and will continue to provide the guidance necessary to make OHMCS successful.”

Amazing that the organization that joined the Board, and the Executive Director, in refusing to conduct an actual investigation, and brushed off the abuse of our child with silence and vileness, now says the Board, and administration, has done just an amazing job. Interesting to note that MOChA says the school is financially stable, when the Executive Director told us that the school was running at around a $25,000 budget deficit.

So, take all of what they say with a huge grain of salt. They are protecting their own interests, covering up their own ineptitude, and flat out lying to you.

Pandering and Patronizing

This is the third operational year of OHMCS as a Charter School. We have come together to fill

the classrooms and give as many children as possible the opportunity to develop a love of

learning that will carry them through whatever their bright futures may hold. We are fortunate to

have a teaching staff that is passionate about sitting with our children so they can see their

wonder as they develop a new skill. We are lucky to have an incredible administrative staff that

works hard to ensure learning can happen easily and comfortably in the building every day. And

we are grateful to have families that believe in OHMCS and come together to celebrate the wins

of all our children.

As the school year comes to a close, we want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of

our teaching and administration staff. It is because of them that our children thrive, and we

appreciate their hard work and dedication. Our deep appreciation goes out to each and every

member of the Oak Hill team.

Interesting choice of words, throughout this. While we agree that the vast majority of the staff of the school are wondering people, there is at least one educator who refused to sit with at least one student. Emily Bowar, instead, abused our daughter.

The administrative staff works hard to ensure learning can happen easily and comfortably? Is it easy to learn while being abused by your teacher? Is t easy to learn while being isolated from the class? Is it comfortable to be isolated and publicly humiliated?

Not all of the children thrive at Oak Hill. Their appreciation goes out to each and every member of the Oak Hill team? Even the member that abused our child? To the one that justified her abuse? To the one that defended that abuse, and lied to us while breaking several state laws?

Not a great look.

Conversations

“We look forward to the conversations that are needed to ensure the OHMCS community continues to thrive.”

Just not with us. A complete, and total, refusal to have any conversations with us. Silence from the entirety of the Board, with regard to conversations with us. No conversations to help make sure our daughter can thrive, but they look forward to the conversations to make sure the institution can thrive.

In the End

If you’ve read the information on this site, and listened to the Executive Director in the voice recordings, you’ll know that the near sum total of the Board’s message is meant as a “CYA” message. Something to pander to you, and make you feel warm fuzzy feelings instead of accepting there are major institutional issues with the school, the Board, and the authorizer.

I hope you will attend their meeting, and ask the questions they refused to answer for us. And then, as always, make your own decisions.