Tensions rise as Tumwater school board president questioned about $1M tort claim
Tensions were high throughout the Tumwater School District’s Dec. 4 meeting after the nomination of Casey Taylor as school board president was challenged by two other board members who alleged that Taylor has a tort claim against the district that would be a conflict of interest.
The vote for board president took place just after Rob Warner and Julie Watts were sworn into their new positions on the board. Board members Ty Kuehl and Warner nominated Taylor for the position of president, while Melissa Beard and Watts supported Kuehl taking the helm.
Beard asked Taylor if he’d like to share anything about why he might want to be board president. His response was: “No, I think my past record speaks for itself.”
Beard said that she was concerned about a complaint and more than $1 million tort claim Taylor has filed against the school district. She said it might present a conflict of interest, and that she wasn’t comfortable with him running the board with it ongoing. Watts shared the concerns, and Warner said he didn’t know what they were talking about.
No one said what the alleged tort claim is about. The Olympian has filed a public records request for a copy of the claim. District spokesperson Laurie Wiedenmeyer told The Olympian on Dec. 11 that, because there’s an active investigation, she wasn’t able to comment on the tort claim. Taylor, Beard and Watts did not immediately respond to The Olympian’s requests for comment.
Taylor ultimately voted for himself to be school board president, winning the vote 3-2.
Beard later interrupted the vote for Kuehl as board vice president, accusing the three men of collusion and deciding their vote ahead of the meeting. She was met with a warning from Taylor about misconduct. He was later also elected as the board’s legislative representative.
At the end of the meeting, Beard said she’d be requesting an executive session to discuss the situation further. She said she wanted to ask for it in public at that meeting, because she was not sure that she would have been heard by her fellow board members otherwise.
Taylor called the concerns ridiculous and encouraged Beard to read the District’s Policy 1610, which covers conflicts of interest as a board member. He said the policy doesn’t include language that would bar him from being the president of the board while potentially pursuing litigation.
The next school board meeting is 6 p.m. Jan. 22.
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