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School board session ends in expletives, records reveal

School board session ends in expletives, records reveal

A heated confrontation between Oregon school board members -- including a political newcomer whose past misdemeanor criminal record became an election issue -- ended in a shouting match and expletives, making a central office secretary who overheard it tear up, according to documents released recently.

During the loud argument, board member P.J. Kapfhammer told fellow board member Diana Gadus, "I'm going to kick your ass and I'm going to keep kicking your ass until you quit or don't run again," and used other expletives against Mrs. Gadus, according to Mrs. Gadus' statement in a school incident report.

The vocal outburst happened at a policy committee meeting in which just the two of them were present in the small conference room at the administration building. The incident that occurred about 4:30 p.m. Feb. 16 was brought up by school board members during a recent meeting.

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No police reports were filed and no legal charges are pending, Oregon Police Chief Mike Navarre said.

In the last few months, there has been tension between school board members.

Oregon officials routinely argue during meetings and cast split votes, with the two new members since January -- Mr. Kapfhammer and Jeff Ziviski -- siding together against the three veteran members.

At a recent meeting, board members took a break from the meeting to cool down.

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The board's next meeting is April 17.

The Feb. 16 fight occurred as Mrs. Gadus and Mr. Kapfhammer talked about extending contracts for several school administrators that weren't set to expire for 18 months -- an issue he was against enacting before they expired, but one she favored.

Both raised their voices to articulate their opposing views when Mrs. Gadus accused him of "trying to influence my decision" and "trying to intimidate me with his loud, argumentative, and vulgar speech," the incident report said.

A central office secretary who overheard the incident, wrote in the incident report that at one point Mr. Kapfhammer's loud yelling "brought tears to my eyes."

In an interview, Mr. Kapfhammer said the fight became heated because they were both passionate people with different views.

He realized he made a mistake in how he handled the situation, he said, and later apologized to Mrs. Gadus.

"It got a little loud between us. It got silly at the end. It never should have happened that way. … It wasn't personal. I'm not mad at her. I don't dislike her," he said.

"I speak loud when I get passionate. I'm a 240-pound guy. If I raise my voice, it can be intimidating. But I wasn't trying to be intimidating."

Mrs. Gadus said she accepted his apology.

"We want our students to forgive others ... that's an example you need to set as a board," she said. "... I am determined personally and professionally to live with tolerance, forgiveness, graciousness, and mercy."

But she added, "I asked him to give me time. Again, it was huge. It was very hurtful. It was very unkind. And time heals."

Later, a divided board approved the contracts during a Feb. 21 meeting.

School board members are paid $125 per regular meeting. Annually, that can range from $1,625 to $3,125.

Mrs. Gadus said she did not file a police report because she did not feel physically threatened.

But she asked the school to get statements from herself and other witnesses to document the incident.

"I wasn't going to tolerate that," she said. "I wasn't going to be treated like that or have somebody behave like that."

Superintendent Mike Zalar said the district was not investigating the incident further, but declined to elaborate and referred all comment to Mrs. Gadus and Mr. Kapfhammer.

Mr. Kapfhammer's account is not included in the statements, and names of most employees were redacted.

He said he was not aware any witness statements had been taken until the report was emailed to The Blade.

"I'm on the board of education and nobody even told me. That's the biggest thing on my part," he said. "If you're literally figuring out what happened, why didn't you ask me?"

Mr. Kapfhammer, who had written on his Facebook page that he had contemplated quitting the school board, later resigned from his board committees.

The committees meet separately when the entire board gathers during monthly school board meetings.

"I believe that anything I do or say at these committee meetings will and are being used against me. I will not attend any meetings at the admin. building due to everyone fearing me there. I don't want our employees to feel uncomfortable because of me," Mr. Kapfhammer wrote in a Feb. 27 email to board president Richard Gabel.

Mr. Kapfhammer was featured prominently by the local media when he ran for school board for the first time in 2011.

An anonymous mailer was sent out to the media and the community, pointing out his misdemeanor criminal record in the 1990s, tax liens, and back child-support payments from a decade ago.

Court records showed that in one incident, he was convicted of aggravated menacing and sentenced to pay a $250 fine and $43 in court costs after he yelled obscenities and threw objects at a Big Boy restaurant in Toledo on New Year's Eve 1994.

In another incident, he was convicted of disorderly conduct for pushing a woman and causing her to fall down the stairs at a Toledo club on Oct. 3, 1993. For that conviction, the court fined him $50 and $43 in court costs.

"I've never hid from my past," he said in October. "People knew I was in trouble when I was a kid."

Mr. Kapfhammer also received media coverage for publicly opposing the salary increases for some school administrators, which the previous school board approved in August.

The raises included an 11.3 percent hike for Mr. Zalar, which took his annual pay to $130,221, up from $116,965.

Proponents argued the district needed to restructure the salaries and job requirements for the remaining 22 administrator positions after 12 positions were cut since 2005.

The board also approved contracts with the teachers' union, which gives the average teacher a 2 percent salary increase annually for the next three years, the superintendent said.

Mr. Kapfhammer said he believes his protests against the salary increases caused tension on the board, he said.

"It's just bad blood from everything from the campaign," he said. "I don't hide about [the raises]. I still feel the same way."

Contact Gabrielle Russon at: grusson@theblade.com or 419-724-6026.

First Published April 7, 2012, 5:32 a.m.

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