Statement to the Mercer Island School Board
Like most of us in this room, I read Dr. Rundle’s email to the community and the Mercer Island Reporter / Investigate West article with horror. Chris Twombley’s actions are unconscionable, and I was devastated to learn the details last week. Our most sacred responsibility as parents, educators, and leaders is to keep our children safe, and we failed them.
Our community has now failed the affected student twice. First, by failing to protect them from gender-based abuse by a trusted educator. And again by publicizing this story against their explicit wishes. In any event, we owe this student a debt of gratitude for their bravery in coming forward to protect others, and our deepest apologies for failing to respect their wishes for confidentiality.
We also owe it to every student and former student to do everything in our power as a community to ensure they are protected from gender-based violence. I worry that outing this affected student against their wishes will dissuade others who were potentially impacted from coming forward. I sincerely hope that is not the case. Our incredible counselors at Mercer Island Youth and Family Services are standing by, ready to support those who have suffered from gender-based abuse, and anyone else who needs support during this difficult time. Their confidential reporting line can be reached at (206)275-7657. If there are others who have experienced abuse in our schools, I stand here tonight to say that we see you. We hear you. We believe you. And we are so very sorry that we have failed you.
I hoped it would not come to this, but I understand that School Board Candidate Brian Gaspar has been urging others to report potential abuse to him. Given that, I feel duty bound to share with the community that Mr. Gaspar has also been charged with perpetrating gender-based abuse. I discovered to my dismay that at least two women have obtained domestic violence restraining orders against Mr. Gaspar. One of the women was sufficiently fearful that the court renewed the restraining order three years later. Criminal charges were brought in at least one of those cases. All of the records in those cases have been sealed by the State of California at Mr. Gaspar’s request, but I do have copies of the court dockets for each of the matters I was able to locate for those who wish for more information.
To be clear, I do not raise this to distract in any way from the very serious reckoning that needs to occur as a district, but rather to ensure that anyone who has been the subject of gender-based abuse does not find themselves in a position to be exploited by another person with a history of domestic violence issues.
We owe it to our students and the community to take a hard look at how this matter was handled. I believe that needs to start with an independent investigation of how the matter with Chris Twombley was handled—from the first reports in 2015 through today. But it can’t end there. There are many more difficult conversations to be had. I commit to standing with and for our students through it all.
I prepared this statement for public comment at the August 14, 2026 Mercer Island School Board Meeting.
