Lakota principal charged with assault

KANSAS — A Lakota Local Schools principal is facing an assault charge after an incident involving a student earlier this month. Dana D. Ward, 55, of Rudolph, and Lakota's elementary principal, has been charged with assault in the Woodville location of the Sandusky County Court. According to records provided by the Sandusky County Sheriff's Office, the incident occurred on May 8, when a parent reported that while she was waiting to pick up her child from school, she witnessed Ward "dragging and yanking" the child by their arm. Sandusky County Sheriff's Deputy John Johannsen, who is the district's school resource officer, wrote in a supplemental report that he contacted the school's maintenance supervisor for video footage from the parking lot on May 16, which he described as higher quality than the footage he initially reviewed. "This video has no audio to it," Johannsen wrote. "The video showed Mrs. Ward holding onto left arm with her right hand near the exit doors of the kindergarten hallway. While holding onto (the child's) arm/wrist area, Mrs. Ward then strikes (the child) in the facial area with the back of her hand. It appears from the footage that (the child) is upset directly after this occurs. Shortly after this Mrs. Ward and (the child) exit the building." He also described other footage available with audio in which the child can be heard crying while the child is being "escorted by Mrs. Ward" and that she was holding onto the child's wrist area. Johannsen contacted colleagues at the Sandusky County Sheriff's Office after reviewing the footage. He also advised Lakota's superintendent, Chad Coffman, of the incident and reported it to the Sandusky County prosecutor's office. "I later was requested to go to Doctor Coffman's office to speak to him about the incident," he wrote in his timeline of the events. "I then spoke with Doctor Coffman further of the incident and advised him that Mrs. Ward was advised of the complaint on the day it happened. While Doctor Coffman was reviewing the footage, he told me that he did not want to place Mrs. Ward on leave. I advised Doctor Coffman that I have to send this to the prosecutor's office for their guidance." Coffman emailed The A-T Friday afternoon regarding the incident. "The safety and well-being of our students at Lakota Local Schools is our highest priority," Coffman wrote in the email. "We take allegations of any conduct that is not consistent with this priority extremely seriously. When the Lakota Local School District learned that its elementary principal was involved in an incident that led to an allegation of assault, it placed the principal on administrative leave pending the outcome of the related court proceeding. We are cooperating fully with the relevant authorities to ensure a fair and comprehensive investigation and hearing of the matter." Ward is listed on the district's website as the Pre-K through fourth-grade principal. Ward was charged with assault on May 23 and a summons was issued on the same date. No further court proceedings have been scheduled yet.