Controversy surrounding a video made by a Penn Harris Madison parent
MISHAWAKA, Ind - There's a very public call for the resignation of the Penn Harris Madison School Board President, over the district's handling of a parent who posted a disturbing video targeting the board's leader last fall.
According to the Office for Civil Rights' investigation, the video shows the school board president Chris Riley's face superimposed over a character from a movie, with multiple bullet shots at the character.
Benjamin Dallas says the video he created was an attempt to be funny and not to be threatening.
The administration then served Dallas with a no trespassing order and made a police report to see if the video rose to criminal conduct.
Dallas then filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights alleging that the no trespassing was the result of retaliation.
The internal investigation determined that there was insufficient evidence of retaliation.
Now some parents are criticizing the transparency of that investigation at a board meeting.
Even board member Matt Chaffee says that he feels School Board President Riley tried to conceal information regarding the investigation and is now calling for his resignation.
“The triangle is broken. There is no trust between a high percentage of this community and this school district because of him. There is only one way forward to build back that trust. Tonight, I am calling on President Riley to resign from his position as a school board trustee,” said Chaffee.
President Riley responded saying, “His point was or seemed to be that there was something wrong with providing law enforcement officials all the videos that this individual had posted. My position is the public should expect the school board president to make sure law enforcement has all information necessary to make an informed decision about criminal charges."
The criminal investigation concluded that the video did not rise to the occasion of criminal conduct and as of now that trespassing order has been rescinded.