BREAKING: School superintendent arrested for failing to report student assault

追加: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]Wow, a stunning story to start the show with today. It's developing as we speak, but here's what we know. There has been headlines out of uh the Long View, Washington School District for a few weeks now. There's even been protests out in that uh area over accusations that the school superintendent was covering up a student assault case. Uh and people would be outside, parents basically saying, "Why are you being quiet about this?" There had been multiple accusations about physical assaults involving students, even a sexual inst assault involving students.

[00:00:35]And essentially, the superintendent was being accused of playing it too close to the vest and trying to carry out her own sort of police investigation into what was going on. I suppose I didn't even fully understand the extent of it, but this news broke this morning. The Long View public school superintendent has been arrested.

[00:00:57]She faces multiple charges, including a felony charge associated with allegedly failing to report all of this to the police and interfering in the police investigation. Here's what the Long View Police Department put out today. They said on Thursday, May 21st, today at 9:30 in the morning, the Long View Police Department arrested Karen Clonginger, the superintendent of the Long View School District as part of an ongoing investigation related to the reported sexual assault case involving students at Mark Morris High School. The charges include tampering with a witness, which is a felony, failure to report, which is a gross misdemeanor, and obstructing a law enforcement officer. also a gross misdemeanor. And that's not all. They say additional charges are forthcoming for Andrew Shunover, the executive director of student services, and they're uh saying that he is going to be charged with failure to report and making a false or misleading statement to a public servant.

[00:02:03]This is wild. They say uh from the uh police chief in Long View, "This investigation required a significant amount of time, coordination, and evidence review. We un understand the significance this case has in our community and the concern is it has created for students, family, staff, and the broader public." Uh they say uh detectives developed their probable cause that Mark Morris High School staff and district leadership were made aware of allegations involving physical and sexual misconduct involving students as early as January of this year.

[00:02:35]Detectives alleged that the superintendent again Karen Clongjing Clonginger was made aware of details involving multiple students, including allegations that one student was forcibly dragged into the Mark Morris High School varsity team room, pinned to the ground, and partially disroed.

[00:02:56]They say that um the Long View Police Department leadership, and this is all just insane, had been contacted by a parent about these assaults, but also that there were rumors and reports that began to circulate on social media and within the community. So, the Long View Police Department sees these allegations and the these reports, and they say they reached out to the school district to ask if it was something law enforcement needed to be involved in. Detectives allege that they were told the matter had been investigated by the Long View School District and was handled internally.

[00:03:33]Detectives also developed probable cause related to mandatory reporting requirements, information provided to law enforcement, and records and communications obtained through multiple search warrants. So they say that not only did this superintendent and who they're calling the executive director of student services, Andrew Schunover, fail to report allegations of assault involving students as required by law, but that they also hindered the law enforcement investigation. I mean, she faces a felony, tampering with a witness charge.

[00:04:09]She also faces that obstructing law enforcement and the other guy could be charged with making a false or misleading statement to a public official. Now, this is right in line with something we have been calling for on this show, which is the arrest and prosecution of school officials, administrators, and teachers who fail to report allegations of sexual misconduct or abuse as required under law. Because in the last few months, we have on this show broken multiple examples of that very thing. I think the most high-profile example is the Puallup female wrestler who back in December told school officials that she was sexually assaulted by an opponent during a match only to later find out the opponent was actually a biological male.

[00:05:04]It took this school months, not until we reached out to them months later, did they report it finally to the Pierce County Sheriff's Office. I said at the time, that's against the law.

[00:05:19]Why are the people and it doesn't matter if you find it credible?

[00:05:23]There is there is no sort of uh uh asterisk in state law that says you must report this to police but only if you do your own investigation first and find that there's credibility there. No, you just report it. I said that the individuals, the the um staff members, the teachers, the administrators in the Palab School District should have been arrested for failure to report because they even acknowledge that they knew about it. We had the emails. We documented all of it. And then more recently, our friend Alicia Perkins with OSD Rescue, she had a story very similar, sexual misconduct allegations in the Olympia School District after there was an accusation from a student that was brought to a staffer that he was having a sexual relationship with someone at the school. And what did the assistant principles Mallerie Wilson and Elizabeth Cornelius do? Well, they waited a few weeks to report those allegations to the police while they conducted their own rag tag investigation.

[00:06:22]And they ended up bungling the whole thing because someone in the school district they put in charge of looking at surveillance video to see if they could find any sort of evidence to corroborate the student's claims was in fact the staffer the student was allegedly having with.

[00:06:38]We said at the time, this was just a couple weeks ago, May 4th is when that story dropped, they should be arrested or charged at least with failure to report because they admitted to the police that they spent a few weeks investigating this on their own. That's against the law.

[00:06:56]So finally, we have a jurisdiction, the Long View Police Department, that is willing to actually say, "If you fail in your duty under law, to report allegations of abuse, sexual or otherwise, to law enforcement, we're going to arrest you for it. And if you impede our investigation, we're going to charge you for that, too." Now, innocent until proven guilty.

[00:07:22]But again, these were issues that were already being raised in the community in Long View, and people were so concerned about it, they were protesting outside the school.

[00:07:32]Social media was a buzz with these allegations of what happened to this kid allegedly being dragged into the locker room and disroed.

[00:07:42]That's how police find out on social media that there's something happening at Mark Morris High School that they should be investigating. And even when they call the school and say, "Hey, what's up with this?" The school says, "Don't worry about it." According to the probable cause affidavit, so the state lawmaker represents the Long View area happens to be Jim Walsh, the chair of the Washington State Republican Party. And keep in mind, all of this is happening at a time when there is a parental bill of rights that is going to be before voters in November. And part of it is strengthen strengthening the notification requirements for schools at least with parents, but it's already a requirement under law to report stuff to the police. So I called Jim cuz I was flabbergasted by this this morning that this news came out again.

[00:08:32]She was just arrested at the time that we're doing this live show 3 hours ago.

[00:08:35]She's probably still in booking.

[00:08:38]And so I was like, "Oh my gosh, it finally happened. a police department finally is going to arrest one of these educators who allegedly keep secrets from them. And so I called up Jim Walsh.

[00:08:48]I said, "Have you heard about this?

[00:08:50]What's going on?" And he's like, "Yeah, this has been a huge thing in the community." So he was nice enough to pop on with us uh and tape an interview about what exactly is happening and sort of how this all plays into the larger conversation about parental rights and parental notification. Jim Walsh, I appreciate you hopping on with us. Um, you know, you represent Long View. How significant of a story has this been for the community. I mean, even before this arrest was announced, >> it's it's a story that's been sort of bubbling up for for months. Uh, the community has been very concerned about it. Uh it began as sort of a a a few allegations and has just grown and grown and clearly there has been a systematic problem in the school district of abusive behavior uh on the part of students on students on the part of some adults on students. Uh and and and the pattern is the problem. It's it's been a it's been a thing that's been happening and growing. And I I think this does connect to some of the broader kind of policy issues that we talk about on parental notification, parental rights in that I believe the superintendent believes what she was doing was right.

[00:10:07]She believed she was managing a problem of the district in a way that was consistent with her values and the values that OSPI and Chris Reichel uh articulate that it's their job. It's the administrator's job to manage problems and deal with problems. It's not.

[00:10:29]>> She should have gone to the people, the parents and the law enforcement authorities much sooner. she's being charged with and and to that point, I mean, it is like a bas the failure to report being a mandatory reporter is a very basic thing for a lot of different professions. If you're a law enforcement professional, if you're a teacher, if you're an educator, you have a you have a duty to report under law. And so, it's wild to me that you see this happening so often. But her charges include failure to report, obstructing a law enforcement officer, both misdemeanors, and tampering with a witness, which is a felony. Do you believe that that's commensurate with the crime?

[00:11:09]>> Uh, as ever, Brandy, we need to be careful. We need to let the process work. But yes, these are serious allegations. And if the allegations hold up and there is substantial evidence that they are legitimate issues, then yes, this superintendent broke the law in serious ways. And I believe you will hear her defense of herself be, well, I was keeping it from the parents because it's my job to look after victims. It's my job to take care. No, it's not your job. If you have allegations of something like this happening, you should be notifying the parents, all parents in the district, but especially the parents of kids involved immediately.

[00:11:57]>> Yeah.

[00:11:58]>> And then working with them, contact law enforcement and the proper authorities.

[00:12:04]And and I believe and and I don't mean to make this too big of an issue, but the rhetoric that people like Senator Jamie Peterson use and the governor uses and OSPI superintendent Reichel use tell these bureaucrats, these administrators, you're the parent, you're the one, they're your kids, you take after them.

[00:12:28]And that's not how it should be.

[00:12:30]>> Yeah. And and look, as I said, you know, we have an example of this with a girl who says she was assaulted by a trans wrestler. Took the district two months to report it to law enforcement. We just had a case in Olympia. I believe it was 2 weeks before they waited to report it to law enforcement. We've been wondering why are they not charging these educators with failure to report. But to be clear, you know, while parental notification is going to be a key factor in the parental bill of rights that voters will vote on in November, this is already the law. You know, they already legally cannot say we're going to handle these investigations internally. So what I guess, you know, I mean, even if the parental bill of rights is passed by voters in November, what's going to stop this kind of conduct from continuing if they're already doing it when it's against the law?

[00:13:20]Well, I mean, politics and law are often downstream of culture. And the cultural issue here is one of whose children are they? If a child is involved in something where he or she is hurt, is victimized, whose child is that? Who who is the parent? Is the parent the parent or is the school district the parent?

[00:13:42]And I think we've created a culture where these education administrators think they are the parent. They believe the children are their children, not the parents' children. And that is a cultural problem that's bigger than law, bigger than than public policy. We've got to fix that.

[00:14:00]>> Yeah.

[00:14:01]>> The children at school don't belong to the administrators. They don't.

[00:14:05]>> Insane. You even have to ask that question. Who's the parent? I will say though, I think a felony charge will be enough to set an example and show some of these school administrators like there might be consequences for you if you fail to report, if you tamper with a witness. Um, I mean, a felony is significant. So hopefully I would like to see this happen in some of the other cases that we have lingering out there, but I have to believe that that will make some people think twice.

[00:14:29]>> And that's the reason this is a newsworthy story. It's unfortunate what happened. We need to get justice for the kids who were hurt at the Long View School District. But this superintendent, uh, she was mistaken.

[00:14:43]She thought she was the one who should decide how to handle this issue and she should have been consulting with the parents, all parents, and with law enforcement much earlier in the process.

[00:14:55]It was not her judgment call to make how to handle this situation.

[00:14:59]>> Yeah, she's not a police investigator.

[00:15:00]All right, Jim Walsh, we appreciate you updating us on this uh important story happening in your district, and I'm sure that this is only the beginning of it.

[00:15:07]So, thank you so much for jumping on.

[00:15:09]>> Good to talk to you.

[00:15:10]>> Yeah, wild. So, not too late to charge the other educators and school administrators who have done the exact same thing. By the letter of the law, they broke the law of their own admission. So, there should be similar arrests in Puallup. There should be similar arrests in Olympia, but I think politics factors into it. And I'm not saying saying Long View is a deep deep red area and and that the police made this based on a political decision at all, but maybe they're more willing to actually, I don't know, enforce the law there than let's say the city of Olympia. Uh Puallup, I would hope so.

[00:15:44]That there's I know there's some sane people in the police department in Puallup. Uh and maybe it's a Pierce County issue and there's definitely a willingness to prosecute crime in Pierce County. Where are the charges against the people who are not reporting things to law enforcement in our school districts as they should? This is wild.

[00:16:02]This is going to become a very significant story, I think, nationally.

[00:16:06]So, we will obviously continue to monitor it.