The Fox Board of Education voted unanimously in a closed meeting last night (June 4) to place four administrators on paid administrative leave, amid accusations that computers at the home of Fox School District administrators – Superintendent Dianne Critchlow and her husband, Jamie Critchlow – were used to post derogatory comments on a website about three district residents
Comments also allegedly were made using computers from two other Fox administrators’ homes, as well as from a retired administrator’s home, said attorney Dan Herman, who’s representing the three district residents in a libel lawsuit.
The administrative leave is effective “pending further investigation,” school board president John Laughlin said.
After the closed meeting, which ran from 5:30-7:45 p.m. Wednesday, Laughlin announced that the administrators were placed on leave, but he would not name them.
However, he said the names would be released within 72 hours.
Laughlin said assistant superintendent Tim Crutchley, who’s in charge of school services, was named acting superintendent.
He did not receive a raise, Laughlin said.
In addition, Laughlin said the board voted to replace its law firm, Mickes Goldman O’Toole LLC of St. Louis County, with a new one – Shands, Elbert, Gianoulakis & Giljum of Clayton.
Both those votes also were unanimous, school board secretary Deborah Davis said.
Laughlin would not say why the board changed law firms.
He did say that attorneys from the district’s new law firm attended the closed meeting, but none from the former law firm were there.
Sam Ferry and Michelle Tyler – two of the district residents Herman is representing in the libel suit – were among about 30 people who waited at the Fox C-6 Service Center in Arnold last night while the school board met in closed session.
Ferry and Tyler would not comment about the case.
Richard Simpson Jr. is the third plaintiff in the libel case, and he also has refused to comment about the case.
The three plaintiffs have been vocal critics of the district, and at one point the district’s law firm sent the three letters accusing them of harassing administrators and ordering them to cease and desist.
Herman says the administrators’ alleged libelous comments about his clients were directed at them because of their criticism and were intended to harm them and their reputations, so that’s why his clients are suing.
The lawsuit was filed in February in the Jefferson County Circuit Court and names “John Doe” as the defendant because at that time Herman didn’t know who had made what he calls libelous comments on the Arnold Topix website since the Internet posters used fictitious names.
But, Herman got a court order compelling Internet providers AT&T and Charter to release the names associated with the IP (Internet Protocol) addresses for the computers used to make the comments.
Herman said the computers were traced to the Critchlows’ Arnold home, as well as to the homes of Fox administrators Dan and Angela Burns Baker and retired Fox High School assistant principal Bill Brengle, who’s married to retired Fox High English teacher, Jane Brengle.
Dianne Critchlow, 47, currently makes a $260,598 annual salary. Jamie Critchlow, 39, is director of the school district’s at-risk programs and a former Seckman High School football coach and is paid $124,079 a year.
Dan Baker is an assistant superintendent in charge of elementary education and receives a $156,142 annual salary, and his wife, Angela Baker, the district’s director of federal programs, makes $107,289 yearly.
All the administrators placed on leave will continue to receive pay unless further action is taken, Laughlin said.
Herman would not say whether he and his clients will sue the school district as part of the libel lawsuit.