By Casey Jarmes | The News-Review
KEOTA – During the May 8 meeting of the Keota School Board, the board accepted the resignation of Superintendent and High School Principal Lisa Brenneman. The board also approved a settlement agreement, the details of which are confidential. Both Brenneman and Board President Billie Kindred, when asked for comment, stated they couldn’t say anything specific about what had happened, due to the settlement, other than that the decision was mutual.
In a statement sent to the News-Review, Brenneman wrote “My resignation stemmed from ongoing issues between the Board and myself, and we decided mutually to part ways. There wasn’t an incident of any kind that happened to cause all of this, our relationship just gradually broke down over time. We accomplished in two years what I had set out to do in four years, so I am proud of the District for many reasons. I have worked with students for 32 years and I am going to miss them the most, along with my work family. I have no plans for the future at this time, but I’m going to enjoy a break and see where life takes me.”
Several teachers who the News-Review spoke to off the record after the meeting said that they had no idea what led to Brenneman’s resignation. One teacher, high school math teacher Kaitlyn Kaplan, spoke out during the public comment time at the start of the meeting. She explained that she had resigned last month, to take a job closer to her family in Victor. Kaplan thanked Brenneman for the work she had done, stating she was the reason she had stayed at Keota during the last two years.
“I knew as a parent she valued education, respect, responsibility and accountability,” said Kaplan. “She valued the people in our building, who taught her son. She supported the teachers in the building who had high expectations. She was going to value the members that are still here, as we continued those aspects in our classrooms. And for the staff members that our previous administration has hired, most of them, not all of them, but most of them never knew accountability, responsibility, and even professionalism, for that matter. For the people who don’t like our current administration, it is because they don’t want to live up to these three expectations, of high aspects in our teaching building. They would rather bring boxes to build box forts. They would rather braid kids’ hair, work on their masters papers, or watch Netflix all day long, and I think that’s a shame. Instead of teaching our actual students, they are complaining about having to do their job.”
Kaplan went on to thank her students, stating she felt bad about abandoning them, which made it hard to leave, and parents, for caring more about academics than extracurriculars. Then, Kaplan addressed the board, thanking them for making the decision to leave Keota easier.
