Tuxedo School District investigating ‘an unfortunate situation’ involving one of district’s social media accounts

Mystery surrounds a Jan.5 Tuxedo School District Board of Education meeting, where the board members discussed in Executive Sessions allegations of an inappropriate post made on one of the district’s social media accounts, allegedly by Superintendent Timothy Bohlke.

On Jan. 3, a post attributed to the full Tuxedo Board of Education stated:

’We are taking the incident very seriously’

“The Board of Education has been advised of an unfortunate situation involving one of the school district’s social media accounts. We are taking the incident very seriously, and are conducting a full investigation in cooperation with the school’s attorney, HR consultant and an IT firm. The board asks for the community’s patience while we conduct a complete and full investigation.”

Midday on Jan. 5, following the morning meeting, a new Facebook post/statement read:

Investigation expected to take several days

“The Tuxedo Union Free School District Board is aware of allegations that an inappropriate post was made on one of the district’s social media accounts. The Superintendent of Schools forcefully denies making this inappropriate post.

“We are taking the incident very seriously. This evening the Board voted to direct the district’s attorney and Human Resources consultant to work with an independent IT firm to fully investigate the matter. This investigation is expected to take at least several days.

“Out of respect for this investigation, we will refrain from commenting further at this time.

“However, we have been preliminarily advised by our IT firm that visiting this website/viewing the content of the post may present internet security issues for those who accessed it. Consideration should be given by those who accessed the post to take appropriate internet security precautions including changing passwords and usernames and utilizing internet security software programs.”

This same information was also made available on the district’s website.

Details of what social media platform and its alleged content were not revealed. The district’s website also states there is a district Twitter account in addition to Facebook.

‘Content of the post may present internet security issues’

It was unclear what the statement’s reference to “we have been preliminarily advised by our IT firm that visiting this website/viewing the content of the post may present internet security issues for those who accessed it” meant Facebook, Twitter or some other district account not noted on Tuxedo’s website.

The school district was closed Tuesday because of inclement weather. The Photo News was unable to seek comment from school officials prior to deadline.

Bohlke, who is also the Grade 7 to 12 principal at George F. Baker High School, has served in this role since June 2019, when he took over for retiring Superintendent Nancy Teed.