PHM School Board Member calls for State Police investigation

MISHAWAKA, Ind. — Penn Harris Madison School Board Member Matt Chaffee is calling for an Indiana State Police investigation following what appears to be the political retaliation of a school corporation parent. The parent, Ben Dallas, a father of four who is also a retired Army combat veteran, has been banned from school property for more than two months for posting a meme that was critical of PHM and its board president, Chris Riley. On Monday, the Chaffee let the public know that he was being threatened with a felony charge for questioning an investigation into Dallas. This morning, Chaffee sent out the press release seen below.

PHM School Board Member Matt Chaffee Calls for Indiana State Police Inquiry:

PHM School Corporation leadership potentially committed illegal and unethical actions, initiated by the PHM Board of School Trustees President Chris Riley, Vice President Ryan McCullough and Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker.

This request comes as perceived political retaliation is being taken against a parent of the PHM School Corporation. This parent’s basic civil rights have potentially been violated. He has been ostracized in the community by leaders within the school corporation who are refusing to tell the public why. Now, school corporation leadership appears to be threatening members of the school board with felony charges for simply questioning the investigation into this parent. 

BACKGROUND

On September 19th, a ruling by the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights determined the PHM School Corporation violated the civil rights of middle school students based on race and sex. This ruling was a direct result of an investigation stemming from a complaint by a PHM parent. The following day, PHM administrators sent that parent a no-trespassing order banning him from all school property including virtually attending any school board meeting. The no-trespassing order erroneously claimed the parent threatened gun violence against the President of the School Board, Chris Riley. The parent posted a video to YouTube with multiple satire clips from the movies COBRA and The Matrix. While the memes were obviously satire, with one showing Chris Riley dodging words, not bullets, the St. Joseph County Police Department still conducted an investigation (a screenshot of The Matrix meme is attached). On October 5th, the St. Joseph County Police Department closed the case without finding any criminal act or intent, listing it as a non-criminal civil incident. During this time however, the parent faced further retaliation from members of the board, particularly the Vice President of the School Board Ryan McCullough, who sent a message to the parent’s employer in what appears to be an attempt to get him fired from his private sector job. This parent has four children in the PHM School District. The actions taken by the Vice President were a direct attempt to harm PHM children. A copy of that message is attached to this release. Nearly two months later, this parent is still banned from school grounds with no real explanation as to why.

[It’s important to note the parent in question has filed multiple successful legal complaints against the PHM School Corporation for violating the law. Earlier this year, PHM was found to be in violation of Indiana Open Door Laws because of the actions of School Board President Chris Riley. That finding also stemmed from a complaint filed by this parent.]

After countless inquiries from School Board Member Matt Chaffee and eventually pressure from at least one state legislator, the board was randomly sent an email from St. Joseph County Sheriff Bill Redman claiming his department had reopened the investigation into this parent. The email did not contain the name of the investigating detective and did not give the board members any way to verify these claims. This is all very concerning due to the fact that Sheriff Bill Redman went against standard norms of non-partisan school board elections and publicly endorsed Chris Riley during his re-election campaign to the PHM Board of School Trustees last fall. The parent in question has also been extremely visible and critical of the Sheriff himself. What adds to this is that Sheriff Redman also endorsed Matt Chaffee’s opponent during the same election and Chaffee is now being threatened with potential felony charges for simply questioning the merits of any further investigation which is preventing the parent from attending any school functions.

Superintendent Jerry Thacker has also made claims that the St. Joseph County Prosecutor is investigating the parent, however, inquiries from Chaffee and others to the Prosecutor’s Office concluded no such investigation exists.

REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATION

To be clear, Chaffee is not attempting to interfere with any investigation. On the contrary, his only concern is that PHM avoids any real or perceived conflict of interest. Chaffee has already reached out to investigators with the state police and he is calling on the rest of his colleagues on the Board and the Superintendent to join him in requesting the state police take over the investigation. The pertinent question that needs to be answered is what happened after the case was closed to cause the Sheriff to reopen this investigation. 

PHM’s culture revolves around the “Triangle of Success” — which includes Students, Teachers and Parents. It is my view that PHM is harming both students and parents with potential violations of basic civil rights.

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