Rally set to demand accountability at Lakota

KANSAS — Alumni, parents and community members will rally outside the Lakota Local Schools Board of Education office Monday, calling for the removal of three district leaders over what they describe as mishandled student assault cases and violations of federal civil rights laws. The Lakota Students' Civil Rights Coalition said the rally will "demand accountability for recent sexual and physical assaults against students on school grounds and to insist that Title IX and other civil rights laws be respected by board members and executive school staff," coalition spokesperson Tabitha Woodruff said. After the rally, the group will deliver a letter to the board signed by 134 alumni, 22 relatives, two staff members and 18 community members, she said. The letter outlines Title IX, which, according to the U.S. Department of Education, "prohibits discrimination based on sex" in federally funded education programs. The law bars "sex-based harassment; sexual violence; pregnancy discrimination; the failure to provide equal athletic opportunity; sex-based discrimination in a school's science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses and programs; discriminatory application of dress code policies and/or enforcement; and retaliation." The group said the law requires districts to "adopt, publish and enforce procedures for complaints of sexual violence, to appoint a Title IX coordinator ... and to follow restraining orders imposed by juveniles and criminal courts." The letter cites a January 2024 incident in which a student was "violently attacked ... in the gym locker room," according to a petition circulated last November by the grandmother of a former student. The petition called for the removal of Superintendent Chad Coffman and Athletic Director Kevin Yeckley over how they allegedly handled the case. The group alleges the victim and his family were "subject to retaliation by Lakota officials" and that "despite all three assailants being adjudicated delinquent by the courts and serving time in lock up ... Lakota officials nitpicked about what charges were ultimately included in the plea deal as a way to downplay their responsibility to provide the boy ongoing protection" after the assailants returned to school. In May 2025, Lakota Elementary Principal Dana D. Ward, 55, of Rudolph, was charged with assault in Sandusky County Court. According to sheriff's records, a parent reported seeing Ward "dragging and yanking" a child by the arm while waiting in a school pickup line May 8. "Principal Ward has not been fired; she has been placed on paid administrative leave," the coalition's letter says. "There is no reason to await the outcome of the pending criminal investigation." The letter continued: "Even if the prosecutor had not pressed charges, it is the duty of Superintendent Coffman and of the Board of Education to swiftly remove people like Principal Ward from our payroll when video evidence shows them violating the most basic codes of conduct." Ward's jury trial is set for 9 a.m. Oct. 17 at the Sandusky County Courthouse in Woodville. The letter also calls for removing Coffman and Yeckley. Yeckley was "investigated" by the Toledo Catholic Diocese for an "inappropriate relationship" with a student while working at St. Joseph Central Catholic Schools in Fremont, as previously reported by The Advertiser-Tribune. The diocese referred the matter to the Ohio Department of Education. Yeckley signed an agreement with the state board, later violated, stating he "engaged in conduct unbecoming a licensed educator by failing to maintain appropriate student-teacher boundaries" and could only work within the Toledo Diocese until 2012. Coffman was twice placed on leave while principal in the Parma City School District and investigated both times for allegedly failing to follow protocols when handling complaints, according to public records obtained by The A-T. "If you are unable to bring yourselves to terminate Superintendent Chad Coffman, Athletic Director Kevin Yeckley, and Principal Dana Ward ... we implore you to consider if you are fit to serve as members of the Board of Education," the letter states. "If you are unable to stand up for Lakota students and their safety, we discourage you from seeking re-election ... we encourage you to consider if you belong in this particular position of power."