Reports: KY school superintendent demoted, 3 school board members resign

The school board of an Eastern Kentucky school district voted this week to demote its superintendent, and three members of the school board resigned, according to the Ashland Daily Independent.

The school board voted 4-1 to demote Superintendent Traysea Moresea, and moments later, Board Chair Mary Kay McGinnis-Ruark, vice chair Lance Warnock and board member Sandy Mosser said they would resign, the newspaper reported.

WSAZ, a TV station in Huntington, W.Va., reported that school board attorney Jimmy Lyon said the moves were related to text messages between Moresea and board members that were “derogatory of special needs children in the district.”

It was not immediately clear to which position Moresea may be demoted.

Jennifer Ginn, a spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Education, told the Herald-Leader on Friday that “KDE has been in touch with the district to provide technical assistance and support.

“To remove a superintendent from his or her position, four-fifths of the local board members must take action to remove the superintendent for cause and state the reasons for removal. Then the matter is transferred to the commissioner for review and approval or denial. At this time, Superintendent Moresea remains the chief executive of the school district,” Ginn said.

Moresea, Lyon and other district officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

WSAZ and the Ashland Independent reported that text messages between the superintendent and school board members were made public through the discovery process in a civil lawsuit filed by parents against the school district alleging abuse in a special needs classroom at McKell Elementary.

“The texts, including in court documents, surfaced on social media” last week, the Ashland Independent reported. “In the messages, Moresea made disparaging comments about special needs students and adults in the district. The screenshots are part of a civil suit five families have filed against the district in February.

“In addition to the civil case, there is criminal case involving four former employees accused of multiple charges of child abuse in a special needs classroom,” the Daily Independent said.