Sex toy joke to result in discipline for principals, N. Lebanon school board member says

(Undated) — Some parents at Northern Lebanon School District say they are outraged three district administrators were not demoted after reportedly throwing a sex toy around while school was in session.

But one board member confirmed the trio still will be disciplined.

Staci Murray, a member of the school board, confirmed it will be moving forward with disciplinary action against High School Principal Jennifer Hassler, Assistant High School Principal Benjamin Wenger and Middle School Principal Brad Reist.

Hassler, Wenger and Reist were accused of “hiding and throwing around a sex toy as a joke during school hours,” according to a May 2 abc27 News story. The board held a hearing Tuesday to determine whether the trio should be demoted to teaching positions for the 2018-19 school year.

The board voted 5-4 Tuesday not to demote the trio.

“We are moving forward with discipline, but we can’t discuss (what form it will take) publicly,” Murray said. “That will be determined by the board.”

Murray was also unable to discuss details of the incident, or incidents, that Hassler, Wenger and Reist were reportedly involved in.

“I can’t discuss the reason for the discipline or what is behind the disciplinary action: I’m not legally able,” she said.

Murray was one of the five board members who voted not to pursue demotions for the three administrators, saying she felt demotion was not an appropriate measure in this instance.

“Demotion is primarily used in situations where you are eliminating positions, so you are demoting an individual because the position is no longer open,” Murray said. “If we were saying we no longer had principals in the building, then we would offer them other positions.”

That would mean the position of principal or assistant principal would not be open for another person to fill, according to Murray.

When asked if that was a district policy, Murray said it was not, but that it was information given to her by another board member.

The no demotion decision angered some parents.

“No punishment. This board needs to resign,” a post on the Northern Lebanon Parents for Accountability Facebook page said.

A discussion involving almost 20 different people regarding the school board’s decision took place on the Facebook page Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

Several parents discussed holding a protest against the school district in front of the state’s Department of Education office in Harrisburg to raise awareness of what they feel is only one of many problems within the school district.

Calls to Superintendent Erik Bentzel, School Board President Glen Gray, School Board Vice President Amy Sell and the other members of the board were not returned Wednesday afternoon.

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The Lebanon Daily News.