Wise County School Board gets criticism over Turner case

WISE — Former Union High School football coach Travis Turner has been missing for more than a month, and Wise County School Board members heard from the public Monday concerning how they have handled the case. Turner disappeared in November as Virginia State Police investigators headed to his home to ask him about allegations of soliciting a minor Union High student. The State Police filed 10 charges against Turner after his disappearance — five counts each of soliciting a minor via computer and possession of child pornography. Authorities have not said if the solicitation and pornography charges involve the same person. School Superintendent Mike Goforth declined to say before the meeting what Turner's employment status was with the system, citing personnel issues. Approximately 40 people filled the audience as the meeting's public comment section began. Three board members — Angela Owens, Mary Dora Smith and Justin Bevins – were at their first board meeting after their election in November. "The Wise County School Board has a genuine concern for the safety, well-being and the success of every student we serve," newly reelected board chair Larry Greear said, adding that the board could not discuss personnel or student matters or "any aspect of ongoing law enforcement investigations in an open meeting." County resident Steven Murray read a list of former Wise County school employees charged with sexually-related charges since 2020 – Central High School band director Dalton Bates in 2020; Timothy Lee Meador at Union High School in 2023; Tyler J. Tibbs at Coeburn Middle School in 2025; and a reference to Turner's pending charges and being placed on leave with pay. "This is just the cases that have been reported and charged," said Murray. "When there is this much abuse, it's not just a few bad apples. It is a culture. The fish rots from the head down." Murray said the Turner situation has exposed several stories about coverups of other incidents in the county. "How is this abuse allowed to continue?" Murray asked the board. "From where I'm standing, it seems the people you are trying to protect are not the kids but it's the reputations of the administrators, and the school board has been complicit in the sexual abuse." Claiming to read a statement from the victim in the Turner case, Murray said, "I am a victim of exploitation by a teacher in this county. Thankfully, under a different administrator my situation was handled promptly and professionally by immediately notifying the appropriate authorities." "I did not feel like a victim," Murray read from the statement. "I felt like I was the problem. I felt like I had embarrassed the school, damaged the reputation of the coaching staff and disrupted something I was supposed to protect instead of myself." Resident Page Wagner claimed that the student in the Turner incident was pulled aside and questioned by the Union High principal without her parents being present. "Police or Social Services were not notified as they should have by law," Wilson said. "Travis Turner is either a fugitive or deceased. How long is he going to remain on the payroll?" Other audience speakers said the school board had shown a lack of transparency in informing the public and had raised questions about whether they had followed the law in handling the Turner situation. "Your emblem says, 'A Touch of Class,'" resident Brian Watson said to Greear, pointing to the county school seal hanging on the wall behind the board dais, "but you haven't shown any." "I'm proud of my granddaughter," the victim's grandfather told the board about her reporting what happened. "You as a board need to make some hard decisions … what she did probably saved some other children." "No person who is a parent or a non-parent should want to see our children damaged," said county resident Kathy Selvage. "If you think that you're keeping it from the community by keeping it silent, we find out at the laundry. We find out at the restaurant. We find out from other children." "I believe it's clear that the community is losing trust, and you need to rebuild that," said Selvage. "When it does happen, you should act immediately and by the law. You need to investigate the people you hire and they should be investigated as if they work for the CIA, not the Wise County School System."