WENTZVILLE, Mo. — 5 On Your Side has learned new details about the superintendent of Wentzville Schools' decision to take a sabbatical and ultimately leave the district.
Since the start of the pandemic, University of Missouri-St. Louis political science professor Anita Manion has noticed the rise of a disturbing trend in schools across the country.
“There’s this backlash that’s happening towards teachers, librarians and administrators,” Manion said. “It can get pretty ugly.”
For months, Wentzville Superintendent Danielle Tormala was on the receiving end of that backlash at school board meetings.
“Being a Superintendent is certainly a political position that is certainly going to take some criticism,” Saint Louis University Law Professor Anders Walker said.
“We’re living in a time when everything is partisan, and everything is polarized,” Manion said. “That’s spilling over into school board meetings.”
Cottleville Police Chief Dave McCune said the situation got so out of hand this fall that officers increased patrols through the Superintendent’s neighborhood at her husband’s request.
The extra patrols lasted roughly four weeks before ending without any calls for service.
“Making a threat is against the law,” Walker said. “She could’ve called the police and had anyone who was making physical threats arrested and prosecuted.”
McCune told 5 On Your Side he only recently learned about Tormala’s address being leaked online.
“We’ve seen Josh Hawley complain about people coming to his house, so I think it’s fair for people and administrators to also want to make their families and their homes off limits to the public,” Manion said.
However, according to legal expert Anders Walker, that’s not technically against the law.
“If the purpose is to cause harm then doxing is a misdemeanor,” Walker said. “If it’s publicly available information, then there’s no crime.”
On April 12, Tormala announced that she would be taking a sabbatical from the district before retiring. As part of the separation agreement, she agreed not to sue the district after it bought out the last three years of her contract.
“We don’t know why she resigned,” Walker said. “It sounds like she got $1 million. I might resign for that amount of money myself.”
Since the retirement, Wentzville Schools have split superintendent responsibilities between two deputy superintendents as the district begins a search for a long-term replacement.