It was standing room only this morning at Gering City Hall for a special Board of Education meeting to discuss whether or not the school district should retain Gering High School Principal Rocky Schneider.
The agenda for today’s special board meeting was to discuss, consider, and take action to cancel, non-renew, continue or other action as deemed appropriate concerning Schneider’s employment contract.
The hearing stems from allegations of Schneider failing to report key incidents that occurred at the high school to Superintendent Dr. Nicole Regan. Counsel for the District said those incidents included sexualized misconduct, professional boundary violations, and physical altercations between students resulting in bodily injury.
The first two testimonies came from Byron Olsen, GPS Director of Student Services and Shawna Payne, the Human Resources Coordinator for the Superintendent. Both testified that during Schneider’s reprimand meeting on December 8th, he was insubordinate , unprofessional and spoke with an accusatory tone.
Testimony also included that Schneider said that he respected the superintendent position, but did not respect Superintendent Regan.
Schneider’s counsel stated that during those meetings, Principal Schneider felt micromanaged and bullied by Regan.
Following Payne, Dr. Regan testified for several hours. At around 1:45 p.m., Schneider sat front and center and began recounting his side to the Board of Education.
The hearing will continue into the afternoon until the board hears all the testimony and ultimately votes on the future of Schneider’s employment with the Gering Public School District.
