Deafening silence from K-M

Over the past several weeks, this newspaper has worked diligently to get to the bottom of what exactly has been going on behind the scenes with the Kasson-Mantorville school district.
Meanwhile, school district leaders seem perfectly content saying nothing.
Through just one month of examining district emails, this newspaper has been able to uncover a great deal of information that we believe very few people knew.
For the sake of transparency, here’s a look at our reporting process:
On Oct.16, Amy Olson resigned from the K-M school board. Olson sent us her letter of resignation, which also went to School Board Chair Kent Harfmann and Superintendent Ted Ihns.
The letter raised some questions, which we asked Olson. But when we saw the next school board agenda included the resignation of Olson’s husband, Joel, a K-M fifth-grade teacher, it seemed obvious there was much more to the story.
As part of our investigation, we made data requests for emails. This is a common practice among journalists and even the general public. While Olson has made claims about those requests, no one paid for the data. The district initially quoted DCI a significant fee, which a board member offered to pay. We refused the offer and later learned we could review the documents in person, free of charge.
Our editor then sat in the district office and took photo after photo of a computer screen containing the various emails we requested.
Olson also made some unusual statements during an interview with a DCI reporter:
“For full disclosure, I did reach out to your boss to ask if your paper has ever been sued for libel and what the outcomes were. I also reached out to the FCC, I also reached out to a number of entities with the state of Minnesota to see what is allowed to be shared and what’s not allowed to be shared.”
Since the Federal Communications Commission only oversees radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable outlets, with no jurisdiction over print media, we have to wonder what the ex-board member intended to learn by calling them. If the intent was to intimidate, needless to say, it didn’t work.
Olson didn’t stop there. She contacted DCI publisher Rick Bussler a second time, asking if the paper has ever been sued for libel and what the outcomes were. According to Bussler, who has owned this paper for over a decade, she is the first person to make such a request.
But at least Olson has said something.
DCI has asked K-M administration numerous questions, without any response. The silence is deafening.
Of course, we understand responses may be limited by privacy concerns. But we have not received a single response to any question, not even those asking for general information.
As the emails we’ve obtained show, Superintendent Ihns declined an opportunity to speak with Olson, after an apparently falling out. At the time, Olson was one of Ihns’ seven supervisors. In January, she will return to that position.
It seemed logical to ask Ihns and Olson how they expected to work together, given the conflict. To Olson’s credit, she answered the question. Ihns has yet to respond.
Then, there’s this simple question: Are school board members considered school personnel? We’re still waiting to hear back.
We asked about an ongoing investigation into Amy Olson’s alleged conduct. Silence.
Also, it appears one school administrator has blocked a DCI reporter from following or messaging them on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. The reporter discovered the block while gathering information for a sports story.
That’s a concern because high-ranking officials within the school district have directed DCI staff to X for information. It seems clear officials consider X an important communication channel, so the reporter made the superintendent and communications director—and the entire school board—aware of the administrator’s action. No response.
While the district may remain silent in the face of our questions, we will not stop asking them. DCI considers shining a light on this story an important part of our work in the community we serve.