Brimley Board terminates teacher for alleged misconduct

 

February 20, 2018

BRIMLEY — The Brimley Area School Board removed high school Industrial Arts teacher David Runyan from his duties during the Feb. 19 school board meeting. Runyan was terminated for alleged misconduct that involved claims of inappropriate behavior, which included making sexually harassing statements to both students and fellow teachers.

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Runyan began working for the district in the middle of the 2016-2017 school year. At the beginning of the current school year, Superintendent Brian Reattoir “verbally informed” Runyan of the necessity to behave professionally in the workplace. Despite the warning, unprofessional conduct is said to have continued.

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The first incident took place in November of last year, when Runyan made comments about a teacher being bent over as she was cleaning up spilled coffee.

           

In a January incident, it is alleged Runyan made a comment to a student about “bending her over and paddling her” after she said she lost her protective eyeglasses. Around that same time, Runyan left a personal letter with sexually explicit content on his desk for students to view. The area where the letter was left was the same area where students would normally receive their ideas for shop projects. The letter remained on the desk until Superintendent Reattoir confiscated it later in the day.  

           

On Jan. 12, Runyan was removed from his teaching assignment and placed on a non-disciplinary, paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the school investigation and a related police investigation. On Feb. 12, the district notified Runyan of its intent to terminate him from his probationary teaching contract.

           

Although given the opportunity to present evidence contrary to the charges, Runyan did not attend the Feb. 19 meeting. The board voted to terminate his contract immediately.