Locals react to troubling situation at KHS

KELLOGG — In the days since Peggy Kimberling’s now infamous Facebook post concerning the administration at Kellogg High School and the KHS staff’s subsequent response, several parents, students (past and present) and community members have weighed in on the situation. Comments on social media and given to the News-Press have ranged in tone and opinion. Many supporters of Kimberling’s stance have leveled accusations of their own.

Accusations of bullying, harassment, inappropriate conduct, and even encouraging children to drop out of school by the school’s administration have been made public.

Supporters of the KHS administration, on the other hand, claim the accusations are false and that the situation has been blown out of proportion. These opinions have been drowned out somewhat due to the sudden popularity of the issue.

Several examples of these contradictory points-of-view can be found in the comment sections of the Shoshone News-Press Facebook page.

Weighing in on the article presenting Kimberling’s letter, former KHS student Rachel Beier detailed an experience she had with the administration when she was in school.

“CRB (KHS principal Curt-Randall Bayer) should have been the one to get fired/resign when he tried forcing me to walk at the very end of the grad line just because he didn’t like me. Luckily we hired a lawyer so I could stand in the place I deserved. With all he has done, I wish we would have went through with suing him. But he literally begged for mercy after receiving a letter from my lawyer. Being a sympathetic human I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I didn’t want to end his career knowing he has children and a wife. I wish we would have not let him get away with it. One time he even called the cops on me based on another students accusations for smoking weed at lunch. At the last home game he had cops come down and give Me a sobriety test just based on what one girl had said about me. When he was proven wrong he still did not allow me to play in the last home game due to the fact ‘I looked too tired’ and therefore was a danger to other players.”

On the other side of the fence, former student Zyra Ann Lande painted a different picture of Bayer.

“I really don’t understand why so many people have problems with him. And he was so against me dropping out. He was really upset he begged me literally begged me to come back. I never ever had a problem with him ever. When I see people say these things about him I’m honestly dumbfounded because I have never seen a bad side to him. He genuinely cared about me and he still does to this day.”

Controversy surrounding Bayer and several others administrators in the Kellogg School District began in late March when a group of parents voiced their concerns at a Kellogg School Board meeting.

Questions regarding KSD’s lack of advanced placement courses, high teacher turnover rate, declining attendance, school environment, and the overall leadership of the schools and district were asked by three parents and one current student.

Kimberling’s recent social media post was what really ignited the massive amount of pent-up anger.

Not long after the initial post, a letter signed by roughly two-thirds of the high school’s staff was submitted to the editor of the News-Press in response to the outcry. The letter essentially denied Kimberling’s claims and played down others while showing support of the school and administration.

Regarding teachers leaving the school, part of the letter read: “Yes, it is true that in the last few years, the administration has asked the teachers to “step up our game.” But because of this, we communicate with parents more, focus on building relationships with kids to support them AND we have improved our staff morale through working closely with each other. Our principal highly encourages us to do all of this. The staff that have stayed the course work hard to improve things for our kids; teaching is not an easy job at all, and it breaks our hearts to hear people say that all of the good teachers have left. That’s not true. Yes, good teachers left, but many still remain.”

This letter from the staff predictably drew ire from several members of the community who were already upset.

One such member was Maria Bosworth, who highlighted her disgust on shoshonenewspress.com with how the situation has been handled.

“People who are really watching, understand that the schools main priority is damage control! Their letter only further signifies a bigger issue! Instead of focusing on the problem and coming up with a solution, they have decided to become the bully in this situation and further try to bully this teacher by posting it in the local paper! We wonder why our kids bully! The teachers and principle at the school are doing the same thing they try to teach against! I'm embarrassed for the parents and teachers that teach and send their children to this school! The principle should be embarrassed about how this has been handled! The teachers at this school and the principle should be held to a higher standard of excellence. To involve themselves with the battle of she said, he said is immature and speaks volumes of the principle and its staff! GROW UP!”

Indirectly responding to this post by Bosworth and others who reacted negatively to the letter, Taylor Hahn expressed her support for the school and Bayer, and sympathized with his family.

“This saddens me… I had a great experience with Curt Bayer and admired him as an administrator, a father, and a role model. People will always have nasty things to say and unfortunately a lot of people who don’t even know what they’re talking about jump on the bandwagon and do the same. Sure there are teachers that have left but many leave because there is also better pay in other districts or they’re coming from out of town and get tired of the commute. There are several factors that come in to play that may make it hard to keep teachers at that school. I’m sorry for those of you that have had a bad encounter but I can say that I’m sure people would say that about any of us. But if I am asked I will always say that I value Curt as a teacher, an administrator, and a community member. I can’t imagine how I would feel as his daughters reading these awful comments.”

This discussion has not just been confined to parents and concerned individuals either.

Two current KHS students in particular spoke with the News-Press regarding how the climate at the school has changed over the past few weeks because of this situation. The students, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed that they spoke on behalf of more than a dozen other students at KHS who felt the same way they did.

Alluding to the idea that a dark cloud has been surrounding the school for several years now, these students described a negative atmosphere perpetuated by the principal and several teachers. They backup this point by saying that these administrators have silenced students and other staff members when they bring a concerning situation to light. The students even claim that they themselves have been accused of being bullies by a teacher who disagreed with their stance.

The SNP reached out to principal Bayer, Kellogg superintendent Woody Woodford, and several school board members for comments or responses to this situation, but none responded before press time.

The SNP will continue to monitor this story and update it if and when new information becomes available.

Kimberling’s post, the KHS staff letter and all other previous coverage of this story can be found by visiting shoshonenewspress.com.