Seneca parents wait for board decision

Parents filled the hallways on Tuesday night at the Seneca R-7 School School Board meeting hoping for an answer.

A hazing incident on June 10 left parents with questions and a district that prides itself on “tradition, pride and class” feeling it had a black eye.

Approximately 100 people filed into the council room – local businessmen and students, area parents and members of the football team. They came for a chance support the team, to be heard and to hear what the board would decide. School board members hurried through an hour of their regular agenda, went into closed session for a briefing with school attorney Celynda Brasher, then they began to call parents back a few at a time.

As the board went into closed session, superintendent Rick Cook asked if anyone wanted to join the list of 15 people who would address the board that night and announced that public announcement of the board’s decision was unlikely to follow the meeting. A packet of interviews and data gathered by the school system and police reports was given to school board members.

“Several of the parents have signed up to address the board and several of the community members have gone through the proper procedure to address the board and we’re going to listen to them,” said Joe Caputo, board president.

Asked if there would be a decision before Tuesday night was over, Caputo said he had no other comment.

“That I do not know,” he said.

The session was closed to keep confidential information – like student names – from leaking to the public and an already busy rumor mill.

Outside the closed session, people lined the hallway.

Sonya Rawlins said she and others like her were there to support the boys on the team in what she termed an “unfair situation.”

“We’d like to see the right thing done,” Rawlins said.“We want to see justice.”

Monty Duncan would like to see the team bring back the time when seniors were assigned a freshman to mentor. Not only did that help the younger members of the team learn the playbook, but it offered a small measure of accountability.

“I wish they would restore some of the traditions here,” Duncan said, “And hazing certainly is not one of them.”

Amanda Ruark just wanted an answer.

“I’m hoping that our school system does the right thing instead of the wrong thing by taking care of the situation instead of sweeping it under the rug,” Ruark said. “People need to know they can stand behind their school board.”

She believes people want to know what action the board takes in disciplining those involved and how they plan to prevent it from happening again.

Pryce Nutting played left guard on last year’s football team. The team went 8-4 before losing to Cassville in the second round of the state playoffs. He graduated this spring, but came back to support his team.

“The program means a lot to me,” Nutting said. “The coaching staff as well.”

In a room surrounded by concerned parents, Nutting worried his viewpoint may be underrepresented. He was one of the youngest people signed up to approach the board. Football means a lot to his former teammates and he wants to see the team play this fall.

Buffy Ackerson said rumors about what happened have made the situation worse, and she still doesn’t know exactly what happened because of conflicting stories. Parents were involved late in the process and students were questioned without a parent or their attorney present.

“Nobody knows who to be mad at,” Ackerson said. “There’s not one story.”

Ackerson wants to know where the coaches were when the hazing incident occurred and she is upset with the lack of supervision. Coaches and teachers are put on a pedestal, she said. For her, they fell a little bit after the hazing incident.

“If I took 25 kids anywhere with me I would watch everything they did,” Ackerson said.

She calls herself a long-time fan of the parents and children of Seneca, saying they’re good kids.

Seated in the district’s lobby on Tuesday evening, some people said they planned only to stay long enough to have their say, others said they planned to wait until the board members left in what promised to be a long evening.

“I think that people have some things they’re willing to say and they’re willing to wait,” said Glenna Wallace, Eastern Shawnee Tribal chief. “I think everyone here is here for the best of the community.”

Board members expected to wait up to 72-hours before releasing the results of any closed door decisions.