By Patrick Webb
InkFreeNews

Calum MacDonald

LARWILL — A former Whitko Community Schools teacher has been fired following reported inappropriate comments in class.

According to a parent of a student, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, junior/senior social studies teacher Calum MacDonald made inappropriate racial and sexual comments in class.

In an audio recording shared with InkFreeNews, MacDonald purportedly spoke with students about a partner in reference to sex and made a sexual joke.

MacDonald reportedly made racially derogatory comments toward students of Hispanic descent, the parent said. They also noted that MacDonald directed comments at a student.

The parent shared they met with Whitko High School Principal Amy Evans and MacDonald. During the meeting, MacDonald said he “was trying to lighten the mood in class and didn’t know he was hurting (the student’s) feelings,” said the parent.

The parent claimed that MacDonald was allowed to offer an apology, then return to class. The parent claimed that during that meeting, after MacDonald left, Evans ended the meeting when they asked about next steps and if they needed a lawyer.

“(Evans) told me that I needed to leave the school and that she was no longer going to have any communication with me,” the parent said. “And that if I wanted to talk to the school I needed to hire an attorney.”

A follow up meeting involving the parent, Evans and Whitko Superintendent and civil rights coordinator Tim Pivarnik was also cancelled, according to an email the parent provided to InkFreeNews from Whitko Superintendent Administrative Assistant Teresa Carrano.

Carrano stated the meeting was cancelled at the advice of the school’s legal representation, as well as a civil rights complaint being filed and a lawyer being mentioned in a previous meeting. The meeting was rescheduled for a later date.

A civil rights investigation into MacDonald’s conduct was started by Pivarnik. The parent claimed that during the investigation, their child was only asked about the sexual comments. The parent also claimed that Pivarnik was not following the school’s policy.

“We went to a meeting with the school board,” said the parent. “We kept following all of their policies and doing what they told us we had to do. But then every time we would make the right step they would turn around and make it the wrong step.”

According to an email correspondence between Whitko’s School District Attorney John Whiteleather and the parent’s lawyer, shared with InkFreeNews by the parent, Whiteleather proposed the parent meet without attorneys present for voluntary settlement discussions with Pivarnik. The parent’s lawyer stated that an informal settlement “before an investigation has been completed does not feel right to me.”

The parent’s lawyer in an email stated their understanding of Whitko’s policy was for an investigation to be handled by Pivarnik, acting as the civil rights coordinator, reviewed by Pivarnik as superintendent and then reviewed by the school board. Pivarnik declined to clarify the school’s civil rights policy. 

The parent stated they attended the rescheduled meeting with Pivarnik and Whiteleather under the impression the investigation had been completed. The parent’s lawyer and a second parent, offering support, also attended the meeting.

Whiteleather, in an email addressed to the parent’s lawyer provided to InkFreeNews by the parent, stated the “school has conducted an investigation…. (Pivarnik) is willing to meet with (the parent) and explain the scope of the school’s investigation and what remedial steps have been taken.”

In a partial audio recording of the meeting by the parent, provided to InkFreeNews, Pivarnik reportedly said he was there to hear the parent’s concerns. The parent’s lawyer stated they had come under the impression they were going to receive answers and that the parent had already shared their concerns.

“This is my meeting and I’m going to conduct it,” Pivarnik appears to say in the recording, while the parent’s lawyer was requesting he state his findings. In the recording, Pivarnik said he would send an update in the following week.

Whiteleather appears to add in the recording that the meeting was a courtesy; the parent’s lawyer disagreed, saying it was part of the required procedure. The meeting ended after the parent declined Pivarnik’s request to share their concerns again.

Afterward, the parent “got a letter from Mr. Pivarnik stating he was done with his investigation and that he was happy with what the principal (Evans) did with the teacher.”

The parent said they were not told what MacDonald’s punishment was, due to it being an invasion of his privacy. The parent also said they had requested someone to sit in the class and observe MacDonald’s behavior, which was not approved.

The parent stated they appealed Pivarnik’s decision to the school board. According to a Tuesday, Feb. 6, letter provided to InkFreeNews by the parent, Whitko school board President Annette Arnold wrote that Evans disciplined MacDonald Monday, Nov. 20, 2023, for “making inappropriate comments in class in front of students.”

Arnold wrote in the letter “we feel the actions taken by our administrators and the superintendent are appropriate.”

The parent was told that an appeal would have to go through Pivarnik.

Following the investigation, the parent shared that another student filed a complaint against MacDonald on Feb. 28. The parent spoke with another parent and learned that MacDonald allegedly swore at a student in class.

Pivarnik stated that MacDonald was suspended Wednesday, March 6, “for inappropriate language in the classroom at Whitko Junior Senior High School.”

Pivarnik declined to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding MacDonald’s suspension.

“Mr. MacDonald’s discontinuation of employment and termination of his teacher’s contract with Whitko Community Schools was recommended by me and approved by the Board of Trustees at the March 18 school board meeting,” Pivarnik said. “With Mr. MacDonald no longer being employed at Whitko Community Schools, the district will have no further comments on this matter.”

Efforts to reach MacDonald were not successful.