Longview School Board Meeting 2/23/2026—Classic Hits 100.7 KLOG News

The community came out in force last evening to share their concerns with the Longview School Board following the arrest of two Mark Morris basketball players on rape charges involving other boys inside the school’s locker room.

The meeting started off with Superintendent Karen Cloninger addressing the situation. She addressed the allegations, making it clear that student safety is the district’s top priority. She acknowledged community frustration over the lack of communication early on, while saying that moving forward they would be committed to improving crisis communication while respecting privacy and legal restrictions because this involves minors. She said the school is fully cooperating with the law enforcement investigation and that they plan to conduct a third-party investigation into athletic supervision and safety practices. She added that the district is ensuring that students have access to proper counseling services.

Dr. Cloninger also announced that the school is launching a dedicated webpage at longviewschools.com to post district communication on this issue directly.

School Board President Don Wiitala also spoke. He echoed many of the sentiments, saying the board hears the community’s fears and frustrations. He said that schools need to be safe and respectful for every student.

Dozens of community members gave public comment over the span of about an hour. The comments covered a variety of criticisms, including transparency, mandatory reporting laws, prior sexual harassment complaints, the timing with the school levy, and more.

The biggest question was regarding a February 7 letter sent to Mark Morris families by Principal Aaron Whitright that referenced “false social media rumors.” Many argued that these rumors ended up being far from false and that only after days of protest was anything legally done.

Mandatory reporting laws were also a major question people had. The students involved had been suspended from the basketball team long before this matter was sent to the Longview Police Department to investigate, despite a 48-hour reporting requirement for anyone who may have known.

Many said that the district had a history of failing to report, giving either their own examples or examples from people they know.

Commenters said they want to know what is going to happen moving forward. Some called for staff involved to be placed on administrative leave, while others went as far as calling for the resignation or recall of members of the school board.