Lindsay Supt Passes Son to Mooreland After Soliciting Sex with Student, Mooreland Supt Has History of Hiring Perpetrators

Rural Corruption, Nepotism & Protectionism: OK Public Ed Administrators Protect Their Own

In this article by The V1SUT Vantage:

• Superintendent Hires Son Then Covers After Accusations of Soliciting Student

• The Non-Transparency Trap: Lindsay School Board Thinks it Serves the Superintendent, Not Parents & Students

• Supt’s Son Briefly Leaves Public Ed Following Accusations of Misconduct Then Pops Back Up in Mooreland

• Administrators Run Network for Passing the Trash: Mooreland Supt Has History of Hiring Harmful Coaches

• Tragic Cost of Rural Corruption: Lindsay School Board Member Resigned Amid Karpe Cover-Up, Committed Suicide Prior to Local Bank Failure

Superintendent Hires Son Then Covers After Accusations of Soliciting Student

V1SUT has been tracking this story for some time. Rural Lindsay Public Schools in southcentral Oklahoma graduates around 75 students a year. The district’s superintendent, Charles “Chuck” Karpe, came to the district in 2014 as high school principal and longtime, rural school, basketball coach. Karpe was then elevated to superintendent in 2022. His wife Lori Karpe coaches high school cheerleading and teaches elementary school in the district.

Lindsay Supt Charles Karpe & teacher/coach wife Lori Karpe (publicly available Lindsay PS website)

In May of 2023, the Lindsay PS Board of Education approved Karpe’s recommended hiring of the couple’s son, Brantley “Connor” Karpe, as a teacher and coach, though he was not a certified teacher.

Lindsay PS Board of Education meeting minutes from May 8, 2023:

Connor Karpe (then 26) was a former, high school basketball star who graduated from Lindsay High School in 2016 and, in May of 2023, was just completing a Bachelor of Arts degree at USAO. Court records show that a still active civil suit for more than $10,000 was filed against Connor Karpe in late 2021 for selling a reportedly defective Sea-Doo, and that he filed for a marriage license on the date of his hiring by Lindsay PS.

Within a few, short months of his hiring, Connor Karpe was accused of inappropriate behavior and soliciting a sexual relationship with at least one Lindsay PS student through text messages. According to Oklahoma law, Soliciting Sexual Conduct or Communication with a Minor by use of Technology (21 O.S. § 1040.13a) is a felony crime “punishable by a fine in an amount not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or by imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for a term of not more than ten (10) years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.”

One, identified, student victim of Karpe’s alleged misconduct is the child of a Lindsay PS staff member. V1SUT reached out to that faculty member who did not respond. Out of respect for the family, V1SUT will not be publicly revealing the alleged victim’s or teacher/parent’s identities.

An inside source informs, “Around the mid of September, it was made known, unofficially, that Connor Karpe had acted inappropriately with a female student. It was stated that he was trying to groom her via text over the summer for a hook-up…an email was sent to high school staff only stating that Connor is gone and nothing further would be investigated.”

Board minutes for the October 9, 2023, meeting of the Lindsay PS Board of Education confirm Connor Karpe was allowed to quietly resign just two months into the school year alongside certified, 10-year, Lindsay elementary teacher Amanda Williams. It is unknown if the resignations of Karpe and Williams are related in any way.

Lindsay PS Board of Education meeting minutes from October 9, 2023:

Within the same agenda item that evening, the board voted to give the superintendent’s wife and cheer coach, Lori Karpe, a $1,000 stipend for “winning state title”.

The Non-Transparency Trap: Lindsay School Board Thinks it Serves & Protects the Superintendent, Not Parents & Students

This outlet can find no evidence that any potential crime/s concerning Karpe were ever reported to local law enforcement as required by law. Given the familial conflict within school administration, V1SUT attempted to reach out to school board members. At the time, the only email provided on the district’s website for elected board members was inoperable so we contacted the district, notified them of the deficiency and obtained the personal email address of board president Holly Belknap.

Lindsay PS Board of Education members (publicly available Lindsay PS website)

On January 8, 2024, V1SUT submitted an Open Records Request to Belknap for board minutes and information related to any internal investigation involving Brantley “Connor” Karpe. On the following day, the district responded with only copies of minutes for the school board meetings involved in Karpe’s hiring (May 8, 2023) and acceptance of his resignation (Oct 9, 2023), and the following statement from Dana Hines, administrative assistant to Superintendent Karpe:

Oklahoma State Department of Education records show Connor Karpe had worked at Lindsay PS under an emergency teaching certificate, though that designation was not effective until five (5) months after his resignation.

2024 OSDE certification records for Brantley “Connor” Karpe.

On January 10, 2024, V1SUT individually contacted all Lindsay School Board members, including Belknap, to ask whether the board had been made aware of the accusations against Karpe, if they had reviewed the reportedly inappropriate communications, if any investigation was conducted, if other victims had been identified and if any report/s had been made to law enforcement by anyone representing the district. Only Belknap responded:

“I have consulted with our school district legal counsel about your email of January 10, 2024.  As an individual board member, I have no authority to answer the questions you raise.  Your questions should be directed to the Superintendent who may be able to respond.  I am confident our district is diligent in protecting our students.  However, my authority to act is limited to when the board of education is meeting.” - Holly Belknap (Lindsay PS Board of Education president, Jan 11, 2024)

Ms. Belknap, like many local school board members across Oklahoma who’ve been trained by the non-profit Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA), is highly confused about her role and responsibilities as an elected board member. School boards hire, review and fire superintendents. When administrators put children at risk and fail to follow the law, school boards have not only the “authority” but the responsibility to act in protection of students in a transparent way.

Lori Karpe’s publicly available social media suggests she and her husband are concerned about stopping sex crimes against children outside of their district when no direct, familial conflict of interest is involved:

Publicly available on Facebook page of Lindsay PS teacher/coach Lori Karpe.

Supt’s Son Briefly Leaves Public Ed Following Accusations of Misconduct Then Pops Back Up in Mooreland

Following his resignation from Lindsay Public Schools, Connor Karpe stayed out of public education for the remainder of the 2023-24 school year. Then in May of 2024, he was hired to coach boys’ basketball and teach PE at Mooreland Public Schools, nearly three (3) hours away from Lindsay.

Mooreland coaches David Tune (L) & Connor Karpe (R) pose with MHS cheerleaders (MPS Facebook)

Karpe is now working under an alternative certification through the OSDE:

Current OSDE certifications for Brantley “Connor” Karpe.

Administrators Run Network for Passing the Trash: Mooreland Supt Has History of Hiring Harmful Coaches

Connor Karpe was hired into Mooreland PS by first-year superintendent Theron Graybill. From 2016 until 2023, Graybill was the principal at Blanche Thomas High School within Sentinel Public Schools where he hired Michael Allen as a teacher and girls softball coach in 2021. Allen is a district hopper who has been accused of drugging and raping a Little Axe student, grooming other female students into sexual relationships and impregnating one of his players at Hinton High School.

Previously at Sentinel PS website’s staff page.

Amid accusations of misconduct, Sentinel superintendent Jason Goostree allowed Allen to step down from Sentinel PS in 2022, then hired Allen back for the 2023-24 school year. Allen recently surrendered his teaching certificates to the OSDE amid the agency’s investigation into sexual misconduct involving Allen and several other teacher/coaches (see V1SUT’s Harmful Coaching series for details).

On September 24, 2024, V1SUT submitted an Open Records Request to Mooreland PS Superintendent Graybill and School Board member Dustin Donley requesting school board minutes, letters of recommendation received, and communications between any representatives of Lindsay and Mooreland Schools concerning Brantley “Connor” Karpe. We also asked about Graybill’s hiring of Michael Allen at Sentinel PS.

Current Mooreland PS Board of Education

Donley never responded to our request. Graybill provided only the following statement (rec 9/30/24 at 11:40 am):

Given Karpe’s superintendent father never reported his alleged crime/s to law enforcement, an “OSBI background check” would do nothing to properly vet him as a safe hire. The administrators on both sides of this exchange are unwilling to reveal what conversations or recommendations prompted Karpe’s hiring at Mooreland PS.

Tragic Cost of Rural Corruption: Lindsay School Board Member Resigned Amid Karpe Cover-Up, Committed Suicide Prior to Local Bank Failure

During the same Lindsay PS School Board meeting involving the resignation of the superintendent’s son, board member Clint Simonton resigned from the district’s board. It is unknown if Simonton’s decision to step down was related to Superintendent Chuck Karpe’s lack of investigation or reporting to law enforcement concerning his son Connor Karpe.

Lindsay PS Board of Ed minutes (Oct 9, 2023, agenda items I, II and X).

More recently and tragically, just weeks before news broke concerning the failure of First National Bank of Lindsay where Simonton was employed, Simonton took his own life. While a recently filed civil suit suggests the suspected fraud precipitating the bank’s collapse did not involve Simonton, his proximity to the matter is believed to have caused considerable stress on Simonton.

According to a local source, “My understanding is that he was not part of the bank ordeal, but his reputation was being looked at due to working there. It appeared to all be above him…Pretty sure (Simonton) was stressed out from all of that.”

The financial Youtube channel Nobody Special Finance summarized the bank scandal and failure:

A recently released (Nov 12, 2024) audit of the City of Lindsay by State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd also revealed failures by City of Lindsay officials and city council members to manage and oversee the community’s finances.

The community’s publicly available Facebook page is littered with complaints and questions concerning a previous embezzlement of city funds that resulted in higher residential utility bills and Superintendent Karpe’s connection to a no-bid contractor for school improvements under a $12.4 million bond passed in August. One constituent shared his text messages with Superintendent Karpe as he asked which bank would manage the bond and how a contractor would be selected to do the proposed work:

Karpe responded to the Facebook posting, drawing more questions and chastisement from residents tired of local corruption and questioning of Karpe’s actions:

With a population of just 2,864, it takes only a handful of elected and hired bureaucrats and power brokers to destabilize a community’s most important institutions and cause a remarkable amount of damage to its citizenry. V1SUT extends it’s most sincere condolences to the Simonton family for their loss.

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