Richland 2 leaders meet in closed session to discuss student, personnel matters after Spring Valley incident

Richland 2 leaders spent about three hours in a closed-door meeting Thursday evening receiving legal advice on what was only described as student and personnel matters.

Officials would not say whether the meeting was related to Monday’s incident at Spring Valley High School involving a sheriff’s deputy’s use of force on a female student in a classroom. Spring Valley principal Jeff Temoney was present for Thursday’s meeting.

Officials have been asked not to comment publicly on the incident until a full investigation by outside agencies has been completed, school board chairman James Manning said when officials emerged from the closed session.

Manning also recited a statement related to Monday’s incident, which resulted in the firing of Richland County sheriff’s deputy Ben Fields on Wednesday.

“School officials and police officers both have the tough job of making on-the-spot judgment calls during the course of their daily duties,” Manning said. “I respect the difficulty of these decisions, and I regret the fact that a bad decision can lead to bad outcomes for all involved.

“Both educators and police officers, however, must be held to a high standard when interacting with students and the public.”

This story was originally published October 29, 2015 at 7:41 PM with the headline "Richland 2 leaders meet in closed session to discuss student, personnel matters after Spring Valley incident."