Aaron Espolt, the superintendent of Shawnee Public Schools, will face an Oklahoma State Department of Education hearing on the status of his teaching license, following a unanimous vote by the State Board of Education Thursday.
Espolt was placed on paid administrative leave by the school district in August while he is being investigated by the state board.
Though the Shawnee board did not say why Espolt was placed on leave, it said Espolt's leave "would continue until the OSDE’s investigation regarding (his) certificate is complete or withdrawn or until the Shawnee Public Schools Board of Education determines to end the administrative leave with pay.”
However, public records and online postings show Espolt went on administrative leave about three weeks after he responded to the mention of his name on a politically conservative blog known as V1SUT Vantage, which is published anonymously and says one of its goals is “connecting dots the media won’t.”
More: Suspended Shawnee superintendent has ties to other teachers who faced state scrutiny
Thursday, members of the state board struggled with whether to conduct a hearing or vote to suspend Espolt's license. Their discussion came after attorneys for Espolt filed a petition for a temporary restraining order and a temporary injunction against the education agency in Oklahoma County District Court.
That filing said the state did not provide proper notification and argued "the facts in the application are vague and salacious and are written, in counsel's opinion, to cause harm to plaintiff's reputation." The board's application noted allegations against Espolt dating back more than 20 years, to his time working in the Boone-Apache school district.
As of Thursday, no action had been taken on the court filing.
"The decision before us is we can either emergency suspend, or we can send to a hearing office," state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters said. "What we did last month was begin referring several of these (cases involving teaching licenses) to hearing officers in order for us to have not only the process, but frankly the documentation around them, for when we can come back and decide."
Espolt began working as the Shawnee district superintendent for the 2023-24 school year. He replaced April Grace, who lost a Republican primary runoff election in 2022 to Walters for that statewide office. Walters went on to win in the general election that November, and as state superintendent leads the Oklahoma State Department of Education.
Espolt has spent more than 20 years in education, the last 12 of those in administration. He came to Shawnee Public Schools in 2021 as an assistant superintendent and chief financial officer, after serving as the state Department of Education’s executive director of school design and innovation under former state Superintendent Joy Hofmeister. He's previously served as superintendent for two other Oklahoma districts, Olive and Cleveland.
Emails obtained by The Oklahoman indicate two teachers with whom Espolt worked in the past also were mentioned in stories on that blog, which accused those two educators of alleged sexual misbehavior involving students. Both of those teachers also have faced recent scrutiny by the state agency.
Espolt replied to the blog by saying, “I had no first hand knowledge of alleged abuse perpetrated by people mentioned in the articles, as I was not present when the alleged abuse occurred."
Espolt's email went on to say he "had no second hand knowledge of alleged abuse perpetrated by people mentioned in the articles, as no statement was ever made to be about the alleged abuse. I have no knowledge of any of the accusations from 20 years prior to the employment mentioned in the articles of when I served as a supervisor. Those accusations only came to my knowledge after I left the district for another position. I have not had any association with the people mentioned in the articles since December 2019.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Shawnee superintendent to face hearing over teaching license after state board vote
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