School hit with claims of abuse

Social media sites started lighting up in Cloquet circles last weekend after a former Cloquet student unleashed a laundry list of allegations against current and former Cloquet school district teachers and staff. The posts came from myriad sources and included claims regarding both past and present employees, with stories of teachers and staff who asked female students to hug them or sit on their laps, to others who allegedly bullied students, played favorites or gave a person "the creeps."

Madeline Kiehn, a 2012 Cloquet grad, made the initial post Friday on Facebook asking people to share their stories, and promising to post them anonymously. Her second post that day - which came with clips of unattributed stories and allegations of predatory or toxic behaviors by teachers and staff - garnered 301 comments by Wednesday afternoon, many of them with their own stories, others defending those who were being named in this very public forum. She has moved much of her activity to Instagram now, where she said more than 1,000 people have watched her videos and each post gets up to about 800 views.

An educator and a self-described "keyboard vigilante" Keihn said it all started after she found the courage to name her own assailants. It created a domino effect, she said.

"Soon, instead of just receiving messages of support, I was receiving countless messages from other survivors of sexual violence," Kiehn wrote in response to the Pine Knot News. "And before I knew it, a lot of these stories that came forward were about abusive/predatory teachers, as well as administration members that had tried to sweep these cases under the rug."

Cloquet school district officials are taking notice. Cloquet school board members made reference to the social media posts several times during Monday's meeting - although the weekend's allegations were not on the agenda.

Still, board member Duane Buytaert managed to work the social media storm into board discussions when pressing to know why a request (unrelated to the allegations) to make a position full-time for the school year wasn't clearly explained.

"It makes you question. Do we cover things up, do we sneak things by, do we not always tell the board?" Buytaert said, following a comment that he might be "jaded from reading 300 Facebook responses about the lack of trust of some of our staff members."

Superintendent Michael Cary acknowledged seeing the posts when Buytaert brought it up, and told the board that from what he'd seen, they concerned things that were alleged to have happened years ago.

In response to the Pine Knot News on Tuesday, Cary told the Pine Knot News that the school district's law firm will be conducting an investigation into allegations made against school district employees.

"Student safety is our number one priority," Cary responded, away from work to attend a funeral this week. "We take all complaints seriously that relate to their safety. The investigation will be full and fair."

Kiehn, who teaches in Wisconsin, said it's not just about past incidents. She has been getting messages from current students. As a mandated reporter, she wrote that she has been reporting many stories and circumstances to state and local officials when they involved minors.

"When I realized that the exact people that have been hired to protect and advocate for students were the ones hurting generations of Cloquet students (including current students), I understood that I had to do something," she told the Pine Knot News. "It was obvious that nobody else had been actively working to tackle this issue, and so I decided to take it on. It is my civic, professional, and moral duty to see to it that this cycle ends here."

Reactions have been mixed, she said, with the vast majority of comments supportive but some community members who were appalled.

She has not yet formally communicated with any school district officials, Kiehn said, but she was working on a letter to the school board on Wednesday.

Cary said it doesn't take a formal complaint for the district to take action.

"The district considers all complaints whether or not they could be categorized as "formal" in some sense," he said in response to the Pine Knot. "This is consistent with our obligation to place student safety first and to take action when we have notice of potential misconduct."

The superintendent responded to a number of Pine Knot questions about the Facebook allegations, but explained that Minnesota data privacy law significantly limits the information school districts can disclose at this phase of the process, which is the investigative phase.

"These limitations apply to information about both the accuser and the accused," he said. "One of the reasons for this is to allow for an investigation with as little interference as possible. It isn't until later, if discipline is imposed and upheld through any appeal process, that more information can be disclosed."

He did not say how many district employees will be investigated.

In response to the Pine Knot, Cary did confirm that Lumberjack girls soccer coach Dustin Randall has been placed on administrative leave from his coaching position. The change was announced at a soccer parent meeting on Sunday. Cary said he is unaware of any previous complaints about Randall, and said he has not been disciplined previously.

A number of posts also made claims about inappropriate behaviors by CHS shop teacher Dusty Rhoades. Cary confirmed that Rhoades was the subject of complaints in 2014, which were investigated. Rhoades was disciplined, Cary confirmed.

"To my knowledge, there have not been any complaints since 2014," Cary said. He has not heard or dealt with any incidents of staff sexual misconduct or bullying of students in his two years in Cloquet as superintendent.

Cary was not critical of the way the allegations were made: on social media, through comments made publicly by some, anonymously by others.

Attempts to defend any of the accused on Facebook posts were met with harsh criticism from others on the social media site.

Kiehn said she has sought legal counsel because of threats, but so far no one has filed any kind of libel or slander complaints against her or anyone who has posted on the site, and both the Facebook (mads keener) and Instagram (madskeeeener_) pages are still public.

In response to Pine Knot questions about procedures, Cary did suggest that anyone wishing to make a complaint contact their building principal or go directly to him.

Jason Godnai, the president of Education Minnesota-Cloquet, said the teachers union is offering representation - legal and/or union - to any member who might need it.

Other than that, he said the union had no comment, except to note that they understood the district was investigating the allegations.

When asked what she hopes to achieve with her online expose, Kiehn said she'd like to see a thorough investigation, without conflicts of interest or family members investigating family members. She'd like the district to look into handling of past allegations, and she'd like them to implement a new health curriculum across all grade levels "that can help educate students about their bodies, their rights, and how they can seek help when those things are being violated."

Her biggest hope?

"That survivors and their families read this and are encouraged to report any wrongdoings to the proper authorities in the state," she said. "This cycle must end here."