Publisher's Notebook: Mat-Su Borough School Superintendent Monica Goyette discusses the teacher pedophile case and more

Editor’s note: This is part one, of a two-part, candid interview. Part two will publish Wednesday, Oct. 24.

From day one of the first 18 months of Dr. Monica Goyette’s tenure as the Mat-Su Borough School District Superintendent, she has moved from one very public issue to another. Navigating each one in a fish bowl while the residents of the Mat-Su peer in and weigh in with their opinions. And when they weigh in they don’t pull any punches.

The latest very public issue deals with a former teacher, Lukis Nighswonger, who is facing five counts of sexual abuse of a minor. According to court documents the accusers are stating that the abuse happened in Nighswonger’s classroom at Iditarod Elementary.

Dr Goyette was at the district office when Nighswonger was interviewed that Monday afternoon in the same building. The initial investigation was conducted by Director of Special Education Lucy Hope and Iditarod Principal Brian Portcello. As soon as Nighswonger admitted to potential criminal wrong doing the interview stopped. Nighswonger was then escorted to the Wasilla Police Department, who had jurisdiction of the case, by the Palmer High School resource officer.

Iditarod Elementary has seen tragedy with the passing of their principal, Sheela Grennan-Hull last school year from cancer. December through March an interim principal was in place. Portcello was hired to be the school’s principal and started spending time at the school in April. He officially started on July 1.

That January during the 2017-18 school year a student made a complaint about Nighswonger. “We knew it was inappropriate and it was a boundary issue in January. What the individual reported at that time and what she is reporting now is different. I think the student wasn’t ready to come fully out. This individual had confronted Nighswonger several years before with a parent. And just kept knowing that it wasn’t okay. And the way he made her feel wasn’t okay. I wish we could have taken stronger action. I’m proud of her for coming forward. That’s not easy. She came forward twice,” Goyette said.

Goyette’s compassion for the student is very evident as she recalled the events leading up to Nighswonger’s arrest.

The new school year started with Portcello moving Nighswonger’s classroom downstairs and in close proximity to his office. Portcello was informed of the investigation that happened the past January.

“Portcello knew of the action that had taken place but the classroom move was not part of that. The time that Portcello had spent with Nighswonger… the teacher had a reputation of not following the rules of curriculum, being late to staff meetings and just kind of operating in a silo.” Goyette said.

Although the action was not linked to the January incident Goyette believes there was something in Portcello that knew Nighswonger needed to be under closer supervision.

“That’s a good principal. We call that having a nose for the ball. You just know,” Goyette said.

Where did the teachers’ union come in on this issue?

“We’ve had a couple of cases where teachers are harming kids and the union didn’t support that at all. They have to do their role but they absolutely were on the right side of things,” Goyette said. “In terms of low level non-compliance it can be difficult to deal with the union but it doesn’t mean we can’t. Principals just have to be very articulate in their concerns, they have to document it. It’s time consuming but that’s the system we operate under.”

The process is really no different than any other employer except for the structure.

“We have to do a plan of improvement or plan of growth and if there is improvement you start the process over and with tenured rights that could last for over a year. It’s 180 days. That can last over two school years so it’s a long process. Principals have so much on their plates and sometimes it isn’t the highest priority,” Goyette said.

Should it be a higher priority?

“What needs to be a higher priority is that we don’t allow them to get tenured. We have no obligations when they are in non-tenure status. What I always tell the principals is would you put your kids in that classroom. If the answer is no then don’t let them get tenured. Because they’re bringing their best. They’re non-tenured and they’re bringing their best. It’s not going to get better. We have three years to make that decision, that should be enough time to know. Principals are getting better at working with folks if it’s not the right profession for them. Just coaching them out rather than taking punitive action,” Goyette said.

The new Erin’s Law and Bree’s Law curriculum which is now mandated by the state of Alaska through the Alaska Safe Children’s Act that went into effect on June 30, 2017, is taught at every grade level from K-12. Goyette stated there was curriculum in place before this.

“We have always in elementary school taught forms of good touch bad touch. We did not do as much with dating violence and sexual assault in the secondary schools and so that’s really where a lot of the Alaska Safe Children’s Act is making sure it gets taught. They get taught through the health curriculum but that’s one semester usually during freshman year. The new law is every year that you have to make sure that these things get taught,” Goyette said.

I asked Dr Goyette about letting the now student run ‘No More Mat-Su‘ group get more involved in the school. Her face lit up with pride as she spoke about activism from the students. “I think that anything that is driven by the students and really I think they are set up for success by the great adult support they have. I think it’s more effective those grass roots efforts. We have that with suicide prevention. Every year we train kids… we have mental health first aide. I think when kids start standing up and letting each other know that it’s okay to come out to tell someone that is just going to be the most effective. There are so many more students than there are adults in the system. I’m really proud of them and I’m really proud of Lucas Adams for getting the United Way volunteer of the year,” Goyette said.

One of the biggest challenges in the fight against child sexual assault and abuse is teaching the kids they have the power to stop it by coming forward. It’s their biggest hurdle. Does the curriculum confront this issue?

“Yes, there is and really for everything. We teach kids to -see something to say something to speak out- but for me I think what’s more important is not the onus on kids to come forward or adults to come forward. We need to be more eyes wide open to those things occurring. In hindsight (of the Nighswonger case) there were kids coming in and visiting frequently. Afterschool they would be in the room. We can look back and say that isn’t a practice that we encourage,” Goyette said.

There are always those teachers who genuinely want to connect with kids in order to reach them on a personal level and their intent isn’t harm them but to elevate them. Can that be tricky?

“Yeah the irony is that our success as teachers is built on relationships and the teachers that are best at building connections with kids are often the most effective. I understand that and we certainly don’t want teachers to not have strong relationships. I think increased presence and supervision, stopping by unannounced. Just to make sure that everything is okay. When we get reports now we want our schools resource officers to reach out to law enforcement. Let them know we had a report of potential harm, has this person ever come across your radar. Just making sure we are connecting those dots,” Goyette said.

In 2012 the Wasilla police department investigated a complaint against Nighswonger but due to lack of evidence it went no further and the school district was not notified. Can the school district reach out to the police department and they will tell the district of an investigation if asked?

“With our partnership with the schools resource officer and the police departments we could reach out to them and have a discussion about that. Whether or not they could tell us or if we need to dig deeper or if they want to interview the individual. What the limit is going to be on what they can share we’ll deal with that. But we certainly want to make sure that we are reaching out and working through the school resource officers in the future,” Goyette said.

The Mat-Su valley now has five cases of child sexual assault arrests since May of this year. Has Erin’s law had an effect on children coming forward?

“I think there are a lot of variables that are impacting it. The ‘me too’ movement it and education is absolutely impacting it and the media is helping. People are just tired of it like No More Mat-Su. There is momentum and attention on it and over and over you hear of stories where people have come out. Even in this situation there wasn’t enough evidence but he had done harm and it ended up being his word against theirs. That’s what really bugs me the most. That we had to tell kids that there wasn’t enough there to do something about it,” Goyette said.

This time there were multiple students and the evidence was strong enough that even if he would have denied the allegations the case more than likely would have moved to law enforcement. Nighswonger admitted to police that he is a pedophile and has been attracted to children for as long as he can remember.

When should the parents be notified of a situation with a teacher? When the teacher was moved by the principal’s office should the parents be notified? As a parent would you want to be notified?

“As a parent I would want to know right away, absolutely I would but we can not go around making unfounded accusations against people,” Goyette said.

The balance between individual rights and the public’s right to know is tough to navigate.

Part two of my interview with Dr Goyette will cover the past eighteen months in her role as Superintendent of the Mat-Su School District. Her motivation, funding challenges, public scrutiny and the Certificate of Participation issue.