Letter to the Board and Public Comment from Parent Amy Orique 11/17/25

Dear Bandon,

Last year my family was forced to move from Bandon so that both our children

could attend school, not just our child without a disability. Let me be clear: Bandon

school Board, district 54, you successfully ran a special needs family out of town. Our

child with a disability could not attend Bandon High school, not because the district

didn't have the resources to help him, (we know its a small district and funds are limited)

but because they wouldn't help him and we could not safely send him to school after

what happened to myself and my son at the district office April 3rd, 2024 at

approximately 3:10 pm by the superintendent.

Shortly before picking up my elementary student, My son and I stopped by the

district office to request two documents that I had requested in an email that went

unanswered. Had I known what would happen, I never would have gone, and I certainly

would not have taken my son with me. We requested the first of the two documents and

upon stating my name the secretary became visibly uncomfortable. She said she didn't

know if the district had the document available. I introduced my son and asked if she

could please ask the superintendent if she knew if the district had or could provide the

document. The Super's door was open and she was right there visible from the front

desk. There was no raising of my voice; my son and I were calm and respectful. Before

I could inquire about the second document (which happened to be a copy and notes of

my son's last IEP meeting we had not yet received) the superintendent rushed out of

her office with police on the phone and got very close to me and said I needed to leave

and that I couldn't be there. She proceeded to tell the police on the phone that i was

refusing to leave, called me a liar, and continued backing my son and i towards the door

aggressively. I was terrified that she would put her hands on us. I was shocked and had

no time to try and calm my son who was closest to the door. She was fully aware of the

fact that he elopes under stress, and he began opening the door as she advanced and

began to leave the building. I had no time to process what was happening, or to explain

to my son that he was ok, I just had to run out of the door to make sure he didn't run into

the road. I was upset, I was scared, I was humiliated. I thank God my son did not bolt

into the road and that I was able to eventually get him into the car. I then had to put on

my sunglasses and go pick up my daughter and try to hide my tears from both of my

children. This all happened in the span of maybe 2-5 minutes. To escalate a situation so

quickly and to involve police to intimidate myself and my autistic son was terrifying. My

son looks and sounds like a man, but cannot always comply when under extreme

stress. Every parent knows that fear as their autistic children get older. Everything the

superintendent did in those few minutes was calculated and aggressive.

My son had meltdowns for weeks after that. I didn't go grocery shopping in town

for a long while after that incident for fear of a run in like that again. With a child that

elopes, the risk was too terrifying. I didn't know who I could trust. I inquired how to file a

formal complaint against the super for her behavior and endangering my son, and was

told 3 different ways to file the complaint, none of which were clear in the board's own

policies, and one of the ways they gave me even went against board policy. It was

confusing and terrifying. After I inquired how to file a complaint with the district I was

retaliated against by being given a communications plan limiting my communication with

the district, in which slanderous accusations were made, all written up and emailed to

me by the board's lawyer. The Special Education director then sent the communication

plan with reputation damning allegations, to my daughters elementary school, and gave

no reason as to why it was done. This changed how I was treated on campus for quite

some time. I was afraid to be there even for school functions for my daughter. I was

afraid to be anywhere in Bandon. I was gossiped about within the district, I was called

names such as “unhinged.” etc. When I began my special needs group I advertised

meetings on “Parents of Bandon” a facebook group, and my facebook interactions on

“Concerned Parents of Bandon” were monitored by the district. When I made a post

asking for help in the parent community, any person that had interacted with my post

was then contacted by the superintendent via direct messaging asking them to make

meetings with her to let their concerns be heard. It was very strange to have my

interactions with community members monitored and it made some of the people

contacted uneasy.

I was scowled at, on more than one occasion, by a woman in town that I had

never met. That same woman later turned up on the school board. It was clear she was

friends with the superintendent and decided to dislike me because the super dislikes

me. This allegiance makes for a loyal friend, however misguided, but demonstrates a

possible conflict of interest if she were to be unable to separate her personal from

professional relationships. Her opinion of me was formed based solely on the

superintendent's opinion. While you are free to be rude and petty on your own time, it

does call to question how these blind acts of allegiance to the superintendent might

affect a board member's ability to review and be impartial in issues regarding the

superintendent.

I formed a special needs group in Bandon to try and make a support group for

families like mine, and was saddened that there were many struggling to find help for

their children, and who also had been given reasons to lose trust in the district. Special

needs families are exhausted to begin with, and the lack of respect and common

decency afforded to many parents of struggling students is abhorrent. I attended Soup

with the Super and tried to find ways to bridge the gap for our special needs programs,

and offered to donate items. I tried to raise awareness about concerns fellow SPED

parents had with the programs for special needs students in the upper grades, and was

referred to as “the parent who didn't know what they were talking about” in a public

board meeting by the superintendent. All concerns I tried to convey for my sPED group

were brushed off as internet chatter. The district sent out a survey and used those

results to determine there were no issues. Most families are afraid to speak up, because

when they have, their concerns have been downplayed or ignored, or they are criticized,

heavily gaslit, and treated horribly if they do not give up.

The amount of harm this district inflicted on my children is disgusting. It affected

both my children, but none more than my child with a disability. He didn't get to step foot

on campus because the district turned a blind eye to the superintendent's abuse

towards him. I could not send him knowing that this could happen again and be easily

swept under the rug.

There are wonderful people in many positions in the district. To those wonderful

people: please do not allow yourselves to be led down the wrong path. When your

superiors are breaking the law, speak up. The district is well aware of the laws they are

currently in violation of. Your superintendent knows full well what IDEA requires of the

district. This means that the district is knowingly breaking the law and violating staff and

students civil rights. That is far more sinister than simply making mistakes. Educate

yourselves on the legal requirements, because it is very clear your leadership is taking

your careers down a path that im sure none of you saw yourselves on. This is your

chance to speak up, with many voices behind you to help. I am certain that the district is

in violation of Child Find, failure to provide parents with Prior Written Notices, and

engaged in predetermination of services before completing evaluations for children with

special needs to name a few. Parents: file state complaints, and OCR complaints when

necessary, this is the language your district currently speaks.

The district treated our family so horribly we decided uprooting, selling our dream

property at GREAT financial loss to ourselves, and starting over somewhere else would

be less harmful to our family than remaining in Bandon. All our life dreams were going

to be on that property, we thought we had found our forever home.

The superintendent is unstable and a bully, and the district leaders have acted as

cowards. Board, you all chose to look the other way rather than take responsibility for

her wrongdoing and instead harassed my family with your lawyer, Mr. Hungerford.

Flimsy board policies prevented any meaningful internal complaints to be made against

the superintendent. My family endured discrimination and retaliation for advocating for

our disabled child. For inquiring how to file a complaint against the superintendent, my

family was retaliated against via a restrictive communication plan as well as slandered

as a response.

An account of what transpired last year that led to the ongoing federal

investigation into the district by the Office of Civil Rights can be found on the OCR

website as it is public record.

Make no mistake, the problem currently rests with the superintendent's erratic

behavior, but the buck does not stop there. The board and its nepotism are clear

problems, and their unprofessional conduct has prevented fair and unbiased decision

making.Board, you were aware of what had happened in some form or other and no

one spoke up. Perhaps it would be poor optics to admit wrongdoing, perhaps you all just

were waiting for me to let it go, perhaps you were glad to hear my family would be

moving. I do, however, want to thank Mr Kimball. I spoke at a board meeting before we

moved, and the meeting had run over time yet he allowed me to speak, and technically

didn't have to.

There is a trend; retaliation is proving to be the rule, not the exception, for how

the leadership in this district operates. Some of the very people who chastised me for

speaking up are now finding themselves the targets of the superintendent's retaliation.

The difference for them is that they have had the community and a union rally behind

them and stand up against injustice. My family didn't have that, and I'm writing in

support of them, not because they deserve it, but because it is what is right. As a dear

Bandon friend of mine says, “Right is right.”

This behavior will continue as long as Bandon allows it. There are currently many

violations against special needs students in the district; The list is LONG. I will not name

specifics as I fear it could be used to identify and retaliate against those parents and

students. I wish that Bandon had rallied behind the special needs children in their

district as they are rallying behind teachers now. There are many opportunities to be

better, please Bandon, expect better, and please Bandon School District 54, DO

BETTER.

-Amy Orique

Side Note from speech Nov. 17, 2025:

*This is not about holding grudges. If the district held itself accountable and stopped its

shenanigans I would not be speaking today. I don't need this, We moved. You can't hurt my

family anymore, district. But I feel compelled to write this because there is nothing more

despicable than special needs children getting the short end of the stick. There are people I

care about still being harmed to this day by the district and it needs to stop.

*This letter is not directed to the newly voted in members of the board. My family’s move

from Bandon occurred shortly after Gant, Powers, and Sullivan became members, and I

do not hold them fully accountable for things that occurred before they were elected. I

do, however, hope that they do their part in making the district a safe and functioning

one for the students of Bandon from here on out rather than upholding the status quo of

neglect.