Superintendent arrest renews calls for Longview School Board resignation

Acting Superintendent Patti Bowen reiterated Longview School District's commitment to transparency at a Longview School Board meeting Tuesday, while community members once again called for board members to resign.

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Bowen said the district is limited in what information it can share because the ongoing investigations involve student privacy, personnel matters and legal cases.

"At the same time, limited information does not mean limited responsibility," she said.

During a public comment section that lasted over an hour, community members questioned the board's unanimous vote to renew Superintendent Karen Cloninger's contract as part of the consent agenda during its April 13 meeting.

Items on consent agendas aren't discussed at meetings in order to quickly move through business that doesn't require more attention.

Cloninger was arrested May 21 on suspected charges of tampering with a witness, failure to report and obstructing a law enforcement officer. The board voted to place her on administrative leave the same day.

Andrew Schoonover, the district's executive director of student services, was also placed on administrative leave, along with three other unnamed employees.

Bowen said at the meeting that Assistant Principal Jason Mackey will provide leadership at Mark Morris High School with assistance from Mint Valley Elementary School Principal Brian Mitchell and Discovery High School Principal Mike Kleiner.

A district statement to The Daily News stated leaders are unable to say whether Mark Morris Principal Aaron Whitright is currently on administrative leave.

Laurie Baxter, a parent of two Mark Morris High School graduates, said on Zoom that many community members questioned how much the board knew of the alleged sexual assaults taking place at Mark Morris, which prompted two students to be charged with second-degree rape and unlawful imprisonment involving other students on school grounds.

Former Longview mayor Spencer Boudreau spoke during public comment to offer what he described as words of encouragement for the school board, questioning why they voted to renew Cloninger's contract despite ongoing criticism of how she and other district officials handled the Mark Morris accusations. He said he once "controversially" fired a city manager for far less than what Cloninger has been accused of.

Former Longview City Manager Kris Swanson was terminated without cause in March 2024 in a 4-3 vote. Boudreau and then-new members of the council, Erik Halvorson, Keith Young and Kalei LaFave, joined him.

LaFave also spoke during public comment to invite listeners to a vigil for the victims of a Tuesday morning accident at Longview's Nippon Dynawave pulp and paper mill that left two dead and nine missing.

She asked for a moment of silence for the victims in the Mark Morris High School case.

Several speakers also raised concerns about student violence at St. Helens Elementary School and about plans to let go of district speech-language pathology assistants and hire more speech-language pathologists in their place.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include more information about the meeting.

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