Following are excerpts from key stories since the Northwest Florida Daily News made its first report on Aug. 5 that Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office confirmed an active investigation into alleged child abuse of a special needs student at Kenwood Elementary School.

SEPT. 17

‘I’m not going to be a scapegoat’

Arden Farley refuses to “be a scapegoat” in the child abuse controversy swirling in the Okaloosa County School District.

“My position is that I’m not going to be a scapegoat for administration not doing what I handed them,” Farley said. “Everything I did was in accordance to School Board policy.”

One day prior to Farley, 70, of Niceville, choosing to break ranks with the district and “tell the truth,” he was arrested on four counts of felony failure to report child abuse in connection with a June 2016 child abuse investigation at Kenwood Elementary School.

Farley, the lead investigator in the case, confirmed former Kenwood teacher Marlynn Stillions acted inappropriately toward students, including then 4-year-old special needs student Noah Perillo.

When his investigation concluded that there were problems, his recommendations were not implemented and Stillions was transferred to Silver Sands School, which serves special needs students.

“I think they’re looking for some type of fall guy and nobody is talking to Farley,” he said, referring to himself in the third person. “(They) just want Farley to take the fall for this. I think it is just unconscionable.”

SEPT. 22

School district addresses controversial memo

The Okaloosa County School District offered an explanation for discrepancies found in an official document attached to what has become an alleged child abuse case at Kenwood Elementary School.

The document, dated Aug. 1, 2016, is a memo from Stacie Smith, assistant superintendent of human resources.

Smith addresses in the memo a rebuttal letter from former Kenwood Elementary teacher Marlynn Stillions concerning allegations and recommendations for disciplinary action for code of ethics violations identified by school district investigator Arden Farley in his Investigative Summary Report dated June 6, 2016.

The memo states Farley failed to properly follow teachers’ union guidelines in investigating Stillions and essentially exonerates the veteran special education instructor. Smith also ordered the report’s contents be excluded from her personnel record.

Although the memo is dated Aug. 1, 2016, the letterhead that lists the names of School Board members includes Tim Bryant.

Bryant wasn’t elected until Aug. 30, 2016, and wasn’t sworn in to office until Nov. 22.

School board member Rodney Walker said he spent two days this week trying to get to the bottom of the mystery.

“What I was told, my secretary called me and said that (district spokesman) Henry Kelley or someone had called to notify us as school board members … supposedly, according to the explanation, it was a clerical error or something. … it was some type of typographical error or something.

“That didn’t make any sense to me.”

SEPT. 23

Superintendent: ‘I never opened it’

Okaloosa County School District Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson revealed to the Northwest Florida Daily News that she was in possession four months ago of an email containing an attachment with the Investigation Summary Report into alleged abuse of a non-verbal autistic child at Kenwood Elementary School.

There was one problem: she never opened it.

Jackson dedicated her entire day to sift through personal emails when, to her surprise at 3 p.m., she discovered a correspondence from Arnold Brown, investigations bureau chief for Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, dated May 18, 2017, that had an attached copy of the school district’s investigation report. The detailed information contained in the document played a key role in the Sheriff’s Office’s separate investigation that led to the arrest of three current or former district employees on Sept. 13.

“I never opened it until just now,” Jackson said. “All I got was a copy of the report and it doesn’t say anything in the email. It just says, ‘FYI (for your information).’ It’s my fault. I just found it not 10 minutes ago.”

SEPT. 27

OCSO: Superintendent told of child abuse report

There’s a little more clarity now as to what Okaloosa County School District Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson knew and when concerning the 2016 investigation report linked to the current child abuse case at Kenwood Elementary School.

Actually, it’s indisputable.

Arnold Brown, investigations bureau chief for Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, said Jackson received the report compiled by school district investigator Arden Farley in an email from him dated May 18, 2017.

Brown, who relayed his message through a spokesperson, went on to confirm that he sent Jackson the email containing the report during, or moments after, a phone call to announce the Sheriff’s Office was launching a criminal investigation into the case.

“We discussed that the Sheriff’s Office is launching a criminal investigation based on the contents of the report by Arden Farley that I forwarded to her,” Brown told the Northwest Florida Daily News.

The official statement from Brown completely unravels a string of contradictions made by Jackson last week.

OCT. 11

State: Teacher hurt kids

Marlynn Stillions wasn’t the only Okaloosa County School District special education teacher identified during the 2015-16 school year for allegedly hurting children in their care.

Roy Michael Frazier, a varying exceptionalities teacher at Silver Sands School, had his teaching certificate permanently revoked June 29 following a state investigation into allegations he struck students, confined them in boxes and tied them to an exercise bike with a belt.

Frazier, a teacher for 30 years consistently rated as highly effective by school district officials, did not contest charges brought by the state’s Education Practices Commission and surrendered his teaching certificate, according to the final order issued in his case. The administrative complaint was originally filed by Pam Stewart, the state’s Commissioner of Education.

He had been honored upon his retirement from the Okaloosa County School District just weeks before the revocation was announced.

OCT. 12

SRO showed ‘wanton indifference’

“Wanton indifference” was how Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office internal investigator Sgt. Lenny Holloway described Dwayne Vasiloff’s attitude toward child abuse investigations while serving as the student resource officer at Kenwood Elementary School.

The Sheriff’s Office probe found DCF had visited Kenwood Elementary 43 times during the 2016-17 school year and conducted 39 interviews for which Vasiloff, by Sheriff’s Office policy, was required to write a report. He turned in seven reports total, Holloway found.

“A gross negligen(ce) of duty did occur involving Deputy Vasiloff,” (now Lt.) Holloway concluded at the end of his lengthy report. He recommended as a penalty two days unpaid suspension, six months probation and reassignment to a unit in which Vasiloff could receive “more direct supervision.”

The punishment was approved, but Vasiloff — who denied the allegations, claiming he’d been set up by the DCF investigators — chose to retire rather than face discipline, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

NOV. 19

Stillions report did not meet state law

Okaloosa County Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Stacie Smith presented an “educator misconduct reporting form” regarding former Kenwood Elementary School teacher Marlynn Stillions to the Florida Department of Education sometime after Aug. 7.

The undated form notes that Stillions had been placed on administrative leave Aug. 7. Smith has acknowledged the document sent this year was the first she provided to the state regarding the 59-year-old veteran educator.

This could prove problematic for the Okaloosa County School District, possibly leaving administrators — up to and including Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson — subject to discipline or even criminal charges.

School District investigator Arden Farley compiled a report in June 2016 in which he confirmed allegations that Stillions, a pre-K special education instructor, had physically mistreated at least one student in her care, a 4-year-old non-verbal autistic boy, Noah Perillo.

The final version of that report was provided to Smith on June 17, 2016.

Under state law, “each school district shall file in writing with the Department (of Education) all legally sufficient complaints within 30 days after the date on which subject matter of the complaint comes to the attention of the school district.”

NOV. 26

Kelley issued ‘letter of guidance’

Destin resident Steven Menchel’s formal complaint against Okaloosa County School District spokesman Henry Kelley has resulted in Kelley receiving a “letter of guidance” from Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson.

Menchel, a former federal investigator, immediately criticized the inquiry conducted into his complaint by Walton County School District employee Danny Graham as “shallow” and a failure of “basic investigative techniques.”

He said Graham, an attendance officer and safe school liaison, never interviewed him as part of the investigation.

Menchel lodged a formal complaint against Kelley on Oct. 26, alleging that Kelley had used social media during the afternoon of Oct. 20 to berate him for sharing Northwest Florida Daily News articles about an ongoing school district scandal on Facebook.

One of two findings Graham did note in his report was that Kelley “was on leave the afternoon of Oct. 20, 2017, beginning around 12:00 noon.”

A leave request form bearing the signatures of Kelley and Jackson appears with Graham’s investigative report. The date 10/26/2017 appears next to Jackson’s signature.

NOV. 29

Complaint filed against Jackson

A formal complaint filed with the Okaloosa County School Board alleges Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson has committed nearly 20 violations of state law and/or Florida Department of Education policies.

The complaint, turned in by Fort Walton Beach resident Gene Earley, also claims two school district employees who report directly to Jackson — Stacie Smith and Henry Kelley — have committed serious breaches of existing statutes and policies.

Earley suggests the board consider forwarding his complaint to the Florida Ethics Commission, the state DOE, attorney general and/or governor. Three current or former Okaloosa County School District employees have been arrested since the school year began and the First Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office continues to actively investigate the district.

“People need to stand up and demand that the people in charge do the right thing,” Earley told the Daily News.

DEC. 1

Choctaw custodian faces termination hearing on Dec. 11

An inquiry into sexual harassment claims lodged against Choctawhatchee High School custodian Stephen Hall has been completed and its findings will be brought before the Okaloosa County School Board with a request to consider action.

Stacie Smith, the district’s assistant superintendent of human resources, confirmed the Hall case is scheduled to be placed on the School Board’s Dec. 11 agenda.

“I can tell you that I recommended Mr. Hall’s termination to the superintendent,” Smith said in an email. “The superintendent’s recommendation should be brought to the school board at the December meeting.”

The investigative report, released Wednesday morning, was compiled by Escambia County School District investigator Gary Marsh at the request of Okaloosa County Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson.

The investigation was limited in scope to interviews with a single woman who has claimed that Hall had harassed her by displaying “unprofessional/vulgar behavior” since 2014, when she was a Parent Teacher Organization member at Edwins Elementary School.

Documentation obtained by the Daily News indicates there were at least four women with ties to county schools who claimed Hall had harassed them between 2014 and 2017 while he was employed in some capacity or another by the district. He is presently on administrative leave.

DEC. 6

Farley stymied

Okaloosa County School District employee Arden Farley arrived with a story to appeal his unpaid suspension.

But Farley left frustrated and still on unpaid leave, having been prevented from presenting School Board members a full account of why he believes he’s being punished for the actions, and lack thereof, of his superiors — Superintendent Mary Beth Jackson and Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Stacie Smith.

The vote to keep him on unpaid leave was 4-1, with board member Dewey Destin opposed.

Before walking out of the School District meeting room, though, Farley vowed to have his say.

“There are three things you can’t hide from: the sun, the moon and the truth,” he told board members. “Eventually it will come out.”

DEC. 13

State Attorney to convene grand jury

First Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Eddins announced he will convene a grand jury to review the many serious issues his office has uncovered in the course of investigating the Okaloosa County School District.

“As a result of what has been developed up to this date in my investigation, I intend to present information regarding the overall operation of the school system, and specifically the ways in which the school system has handled all manner of complaints regarding the misbehavior of employees, to a grand jury,” Eddins said.

The group selected to sit on the grand jury would not be limited to acting on just evidence that determined criminal activity, but can also report in its findings on the school district as a government entity.

DEC. 14

Report: Teacher helped students cheat

Records received by the Northwest Florida Daily News confirmed that in 2015, Wright Elementary teacher Deborah Cross was found through a school district investigation to have coached fifth-graders to correct answers they’d gotten wrong on a Discovery Education Assessment reading test.

The probe was conducted by Okaloosa County School District investigator Arden Farley.

State officials confirmed the Cross case was never sent to the Florida Department of Education’s division of Professional Practices for review, as Farley had recommended. In addition, no discipline was administered at the district level and the ethics training recommended by Farley was never provided to Cross.

DEC. 15

Van Dyke sues Okaloosa County School District

Okaloosa County’s troubled school district has taken another blow, this one in the form of a lawsuit filed by Marline Van Dyke, who ran for school superintendent against Mary Beth Jackson in 2016.

Van Dyke alleges that she was discriminated against while an employee of the Okaloosa County district, particularly after she decided to run for superintendent.

She “was subjected to disparate treatment, different terms and conditions of employment and held to a different standard,” according to the lawsuit, filed Dec. 5 on Van Dyke’s behalf by attorney Marie Mattox.

The lawsuit specifically targets four people whose names have appeared in the news often in the last few months as controversy has swirled around the district: Jackson, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Stacie Smith, Human Resources Investigator Arden Farley and Henry Kelley.

DEC. 22

Report: Kelley broke public records law

Henry Kelley, the Okaloosa County School District’s program director for the Office of Community Affairs, broke state laws when he released documents exempt from public scrutiny to a television reporter, a private investigator has found.

Investigator Matthew Pellegrino reported that Kelley violated two Florida statutes pertaining to the release of public records on Oct. 18 when he provided WEAR TV’s Christopher Saul with documentation pertaining to a formal complaint lodged against Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Stacie Smith.

The complaint had been filed by county resident Gene Earley, who called for disciplinary action against Kelley after Saul contacted him seeking comment on the Smith investigation.