After months of turmoil in the investigation of two LeRoy-Ostrander High School coaches, Tuesday night’s board meeting signaled a turning point for the community and school district.

With a 4-3 vote for each coach, Principal Aaron Hungerholt and fifth grade teacher Trevor Carrier were reinstated into their positions after months of public outcry against the L-O school district for limited information and the handling of the investigation.

The exact cause of the investigation has been made private, with officials referring to Minnesota Data Privacy Laws that legally prohibited them from speaking about any details about the investigation. The ensuing public turmoil led to the termination of the superintendent sharing agreement with Southland Schools and the relieving of duties for former L-O Superintendent Jeff Sampson, as well as a petition circulating around town to call for school board member Justin Kennedy to resign.

Interim Superintendent Jerry Reshetar is leading the district for the time being.

As the community looked to heal from its experiences, there were some things that needed to be addressed by those who hadn’t spoken openly about their experiences.

Among those who addressed officials was Britt Wehrenberg, a former L-O school board member, who wanted to speak out after allegedly getting harassed and intimidated by community members before and after school board meetings since the decision to suspend Hungerholt’s and Carrier’s coaching contracts.

“I am here to remind you of your oath and obligations as a school board member,” Wehrenberg said. “LeRoy-Ostrander school district has gained a very negative image in southeast Minnesota and beyond.”

Wehrenberg stated that the L-O School Board had not released information to the media, including the identities of the coaches who were being investigated. Rather, the public had decided to drag the names of the individuals involved out into the spotlight repeatedly during public comment periods.

She also criticized board chairman Steve Kasel and vice chairman Tim Lewison for releasing statements on behalf of the school board to the Mower County Independent that she said did not follow proper Minnesota School Board Association’s protocol, as well as for stating that the action plan would be approved that night. She also motioned to new school board members Cassidy Milks and Teresa Frazer that they did not have the complete picture of the investigation, having just been sworn in a couple weeks ago.

“You violated basic code of conduct, and based on the article, you seemingly turned against your superintendent in the first week,” Wehrenberg said. “I had hope that a fresh new start would help our district. …now we’re back to chaos. You need him and his experience and expertise. You need his communication skills and organization and you need his integrity. …It’s our responsibility to look at the facts.”

She then addressed the need for the school board and the public to listen to each other and work together to move forward in a positive direction for L-O district. However, she condemned the behavior of some community members on intimidating school board officials because of the contentious issue.

“You need to start standing up for yourselves as a board,” she said. “Remember your oath and obligations and take back control. The public’s behavior, and harassment and intimidation afterwards is not OK. …I sincerely wish you the best and hope this district can go back on track for a positive future.”

Which direction will LeRoy-Ostrander go?

Pat Arndorfer, L-O school board member, stated that he agreed with Wehrenberg’s sentiments about the behavior and conduct displayed by members of the community during meetings and after meetings. He also stated that he trusted Reshetar.

“I think some of the conduct that has happened during and after meetings have not been a good representation of the public and of the community,” Arndorfer said. “We formed a committee and Jerry was brought to us with high praise by a number of people, including Aaron (Hungerholt) and the committee brought him forward with high expectations of him. He’s a man of high scruples and integrity. ….he has probably more information than anybody else here and I think when I look at the long term for our school district, he is the man to get us on the right path, and I’m gonna stand behind the decision he made and it’s not an easy thing to do. But, I feel my conscious says I have to do that, and that’s how I’m gonna vote.”

After voting to reinstate the coaches, the next item of discussion was to draft an extracurricular action plan, which included steps to improve code of conduct as well as staff training that would be revisited in February.

Reshetar addressed the LeRoy-Ostrander community about his obligations and role as interim superintendent. From prior conversations with individuals inside the district, and outside, Reshetar stated that it will take some time for LeRoy-Ostrander to remove itself from a negative image that was painted of their community from what transpired.

“I will tell you, I talked to a lot of people inside this district and outside of your district about the status of your community and school,” he said. “Obviously, as I mentioned before, the climate here is not very good at all.”

Moving forward from the investigations and the aftermath, Reshetar stated that “we’re all guilty” of letting a toxic atmosphere and culture get fostered for a lengthy period of time, which affected coaches by getting “pulled into a false philosophy of win at all costs and when coaches get into that mode, sometimes their ethical behaviors would not meet my standards.”

“It’s easy to fall into that, and I think many of your coaches may fall into that category are victims,” Reshetar said. “Even your students are victims because they will model behaviors of your coaches, and some of the incidences I’ve received … unsportsmanlike conduct of your student athletes from around the league are not very good.”

Reshetar stated that his role was to improve the performance of the coaches and all staff, to mentor and train them, evaluate them, as well as holding them accountable based on his standards.

“I will tell you all, that my standards are high,” he said. “If any of my staff makes a mistake, if I need to reprimand them verbally, I will. If I need to do it in writing, I will. If I need to remove them, I’ll go through the necessary protocols and I will remove them based on their performance. If I have to do those things, it’s uncomfortable, but that means I need to have a board that supports me, a community that supports me, and parents that support me and trust me when I say this individual is not meeting my standards, that you believe me.”

While explaining his stance, Reshetar also adamantly stated that he would not be “micromanaged” by the school board, community and parents in his attempts to improve the current culture at LeRoy-Ostrander, despite having “come close” to quitting because of the negativity. He also said that he cannot help a community if it’s unwilling to change and heal.

“I would also tell you that I have not given up on you,” he added. “I have come close, especially when I started getting hate mail. I’ve come close. But, now, it’s up to all of you. Where do you want this train to go? If you want to be the status quo, which was what you had in the past, if that’s what you want, I can’t help you. If you want this train to go in another direction and you charge me with holding your entire staff accountable for what they do and say, I can facilitate that, I can help you with that, but I have to have your support.”

The vote to reinstate Hungerholt and Carrier to their coaching positions was close (4-3 for each individual) and when school board members explored the idea of possibly issuing a public apology, Reshetar stated that it was more appropriate for individual members to issue a personal apology if they wished.

“Personally, it’s my opinion that (the coaches) were victims of a philosophy within your district and community for a long time,” he said. “Your students have been victims for a long time. …so it’s time to turn this thing around. We can point fingers at everyone in this room. My opinion: we’re all guilty. We let this happen. Beyond that, now what? I’ve given you the what. It’s how can you perform? Can you rise to the occasion and move this train in another direction so this does not happen again ever? More than these gentlemen have been hurt, your students have been hurt. We’ve got to get past that.”