Knight: Lee Investigation Should Shift To School Board

The attorney for two former Livingston Academy students said the school board should follow through on the investigation of inappropriate conduct by teacher Mark Lee.

“I hope that this isn’t the end of this investigation,” Attorney Brett Knight said. “It’s just a removal of that detour and getting it back where it really needs to be, which is in the hands of the elected school board members.”

District Attorney Bryant Dunaway sent a letter to the TBI Thursday night that he would not pursue criminal charges against Lee. Knight said he was not surprised. Knight said the object of the student’s complaints were never to seek criminal punishment. Instead, Knight said they want to change the environment that allowed Lee to continue to allegedly victimize female students at Livingston Academy.

“The main goal of these young ladies has always been to present this information to the school board, have the school board do an investigation, and for the school board to take action on it.”

The allegations against Lee first surfaced in March. Initially, the Board of Education suspended Lee for three days, but that was later changed to an indefinite suspension as the school board began its investigation. At the same time, Dunaway’s office also began an investigation into any criminal activity.

Knight said he is concerned about the inaction of the school board when it comes to allegations against Lee. He said the complaints against Lee go beyond his clients.

“I kind of use this as my litmus test as far as how serious the school board or the superintendent is taking this investigation,” Knight said. “Both faculty members and students have made statements that corroborate these young lady’s accounts that tend to support them. And some of them have made formal statements in the way of sworn statements and affidavits. Up to this point, the school board has never even asked to read those statements.”

“And so, I guess, as an attorney, I look at that and say if there are teachers who have made statements about what they have observed, and there are students who have made statements about what they have observed, and some of these are sworn affidavits, if the school board doesn’t even read those; doesn’t even look at the support of those, then I can understand why the families of these young ladies would be very frustrated feeling like the school board didn’t take it serious.”

Because of the alleged lack of action by school officials, Knight said he worries that other affected students will not feel safe coming forward to report inappropriate behavior in the future.

“I think that precedent already exists at Livingston Academy,” Knight said. “That’s probably the most disappointing thing as a member of the community. For several years these reports have been coming in to the administration of the school. Either the administration of the school or the school board through the superintendent of schools have refused to take any notable action on it.”

Knight said that Tennessee law has a provision offering protection from authority figures. He said it is the duty of the elected school officials to ensure student safety.

“Unprofessional conduct is spelled out in that particular part of the Tennessee Code Annotated,” Knight said. “It specifically mentions immorality and other things as an offense that can lead to termination of a tenured teacher. So, they have the power to change this if they want to.”

It is not known where the Overton County School Board investigation stands.