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MISHAWAKA, Ind. — REAL News Michiana has discovered a lawyer for the Penn Harris Madison School Corporation worked to unmask the identity of a parent who filed a Civil Rights complaint against the district instead of addressing the facts of the case involving the discrimination of middle school children. Documents obtained by RNM through a Freedom of Information Act request by national civil rights attorneys, show PHM contracted lawyer, Amy Steketee Fox, first questioned the identity of the complainant before addressing the facts laid out in the case. She also filed a FOIA in what appears to be another attempt in unmasking the identity of the parent.
“Would you be able to provide me the name of the complainant? If you’d prefer to discuss by phone, please feel free to call me.” Steketee Fox wrote in an email to the Department of Education on July 5th.
“Because the allegation does not pertain to a specific individual, we are not able to provide the name of the complainant.” A representative from the Department of Education responded. “If you wish to discuss this further, please let me know and I will call you.”
It’s unclear if a phone call ever occured.
Steketee Fox is a partner with Church, Church, Hittle and Antrim based out of Fort Wayne. Her speciality is dealing with educational issues.
(It turns out, Steketee Fox is consistently used by PHM to trample on the rights of parents. RNM has learned that on at least one occasion in 2023, PHM sent Steketee Fox to court to fight subpoenas from a parent pertaining to a child’s full educational records.)
CIVIL RIGHTS INVESTIGATION FINDINGS AND RETALIATION
The Department of Education Office of Civil Rights eventually reported their findings in September, showing PHM had indeed violated the civil rights of middle school children. The following day, the parent who filed the complaint was banned from school property.
BACKGROUND
Ben Dallas, a parent of four children in the school district who filed the complaint, was banned from school property from mid-September until early December. While the ban came just one day after the findings in his Civil Rights complaint were released, according to a letter Dallas received, PHM claimed ban stemmed from a video he created and posted to YouTube in which he uses a popular meme from the movie The Matrix. The meme shows the main character, Neo, dodging bullets being fired at him. In the meme created by Dallas, Neo is depicted as school board president Chris Riley. Instead of dodging bullets, Riley is dodging words that come across the page. Those words include “accountability,” “hiring sex workers” and “implicit bias” — all issues Riley has been accused of ignoring in the PHM School Corporation.
Chris Riley also submitted a report to the St. Joseph County Police Department claiming the above video was threatening gun violence against him and PHM. Investigators concluded their investigation on October 5th, determining no crime was committed. However, the ban on the parent remained.
INVESTIGATION REOPENED
For nearly a month, a minority of board members along with Indiana State Representative Jake Teshka questioned school leadership about the continued no-trespassing order with little to no response. Finally, on November 3rd, Superintendent Jerry Thacker told board members that the ban remained because the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office was investigating. However, inquiries to the prosecutor’s office by both Teshka and School Board Member Matt Chaffee show the Prosecutor’s Office never received a report and were not involved in any investigation.
Three days later, on November 6th, someone from PHM sent the St. Joseph County Police Department a PDF file with 80 links to videos Dallas had created dating back several years. The document also contained links to videos of school board meetings dating back to 2021 in which Dallas had participated in public comment. This action caused SJCPD to reopen its investigation more than a month after the initial investigation had been closed.
According to the police report, nothing provided by the school corporation contained threats. However, detectives were forced to view all of the videos. Members of the PHM School Board and school leadership were able to use the reopened “investigation” as cover to maintain its no-trespass order on Dallas.
THE POLICE REPORT
“I began reviewing all PHM Board meetings that Ben Dallas spoke at dated back to 10/10/22.” The investigating detective wrote in his report. “I didn’t hear any threats made by Ben Dallas.”
“I then began to review all (YouTube) videos (posted by Dallas) provided by PHM.” The detective continues. “I did not see the meme as threatening, but interpreted the meme as Chris Riley (President of the School Board) dodging tough issues… After watching the remaining videos, I did not find any threatening content posted by Ben Dallas.”
VIOLATION OF PARENT BILL OF RIGHTS
In recent years, the Indiana Attorney General created what is called the Parent’s Bill of Rights to explain all of the legal protections parents have regarding their child’s education. One section specifically states school districts cannot police a parent’s social media unless there is a threat of violence, which is why PHM leadership lied about the parent in their obvious political attacks.
“Parents’ ability to question and address school officials and school board members is not limited to public comment periods at school board meetings. Parents can express concerns to school officials in-person, by letter, phone, or via other electronic communication like email, text, or social media. Civil and respectful dialogue is always encouraged when disagreements arise between school officials and parents. Any speech containing obscene language or that threatens, incites, or encourages others to violate the law will be subject to school censor and potentially reported to law enforcement. However, schools cannot constrain speech or expression simply because it is disagreeable.”
OBVIOUS RETALIATIONDallas has been extremely vocal and critical of PHM, its administration and school board members for several years. He has spoken out about Critical Race Theory, Diversity Equity and Inclusion, radical gender theory and the district’s employment of a drag queen who works as a paraprofessional with developmentally disabled children.While the district claims Dallas was banned from school property for the “threatening” meme, the banishment came only ONE DAY after the US Department of Education came down with a ruling showing the school district violated the civil rights of straight white students — all stemming from a formal complaint filed by Dallas.
Dallas was also successful in another complaint that he filed against PHM earlier this year in which the school district violated Indiana open door laws. That case is currently being used as an example by the state as how school boards should not behave in an article titled “Guidance from the Public Access Counselor on Public Comment at School Board Meetings.”
One week after PHM banned Dallas from school grounds, the PHM School Board Vice President sent Dallas’ employer a message on Linkedin in an attempt to get the father of 4 fired from his private sector job.
“I thought you should be aware that one of your employees… uses these platforms to post some disturbing social media post.” PHM School Board Vice President Ryan McCullough wrote in his message on September 28th. While a screenshot of the message can be seen below, RNM has redacted portions that could identify the parent’s employer.
VETERAN DISCRIMINATIONREAL News Michiana learned from multiple sources in October, the Penn Harris Madison School Corporation had been maintaining the ban because Dallas is a combat veteran. According to two sources who wish not to be named out of fear of retaliation, Superintendent Jerry Thacker said PHM was finding ways to keep the ban against Dallas because he is a veteran and he owns guns. Dallas retired from the Army in 2016. He did two combat tours, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.In October, RNM learned the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) opened another investigation into the Penn Harris Madison School Corporation focusing on apparent retaliation the school district has taken against Dallas.
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This PHM parent was banned by the school because of a complaint PHM made to the county police, who found the complaint had no merit. In the meantime this parent could not attend kid’s sports.
Do public schools in Indiana have too much unilateral authority in banning taxpaying citizens? Perhaps there needs to be more independent oversight?
Reply to Andy Rutten. Yes and yes!