The educators have received “appropriate consequences,” and will return to their classrooms, the letter said, and the board now considers the matter closed.
The Dayton Daily News has asked the district several times what those consequences were.
The letter said that the educators have expressed “genuine regret” and apologized for their comments.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
“(We) want to thank our community for their continued support as we work to keep our focus and energy on the needs of our students,” the letter says.
In a statement submitted to this newspaper Friday afternoon, board member Jeremy Cox said he was neither informed of nor agreed to “any such decision,” adding that to his knowledge, the board’s last official action was to place a termination vote on their Oct. 13 meeting agenda.
“I want to be clear: I was not part of, nor do I consent to, any agreement to accept the Superintendent’s revised determination. I remain firmly in favor of pursuing termination of the three individuals in question,” Cox said.
Cox went on to condemn “any ‘round robin’ decision-making process that circumvents the authority of the full board.”
“Such actions are not only inappropriate but, in my view, a violation of the public trust and the legal obligations of this body,” he wrote.
On Sept. 29, the Xenia board voted 3-2 in favor to place the question of firing three educators on the agenda of their Oct. 13 meeting. Members Joshua Day, Jeremy Cox, and George Leightenheimer voted in favor, with members Mary Grech and Bill Richey dissenting.
Xenia teachers Kevin Keefe and Jenn Davis were the subject of a social media firestorm over the last two weeks after they posted comments on their personal Facebook pages about the death of Kirk. Both have been educators in Xenia schools for over 20 years.
The Xenia teachers’ comments went viral, after being picked up by conservative-leaning social media pages, including “Libs of Tiktok.” The district received 36 messages about Keefe and Davis, the vast majority of which called for them to be fired, though a handful of correspondents voiced support for them.
The third educator, an elementary school librarian, was not as publicly vilified, but had caught the board’s attention, Leightenheimer said last Monday. The district has not publicly named any of the teachers involved.
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