‘I do not condone bullying’: LR5 vice chair Loveless responds to State’s lawsuit coverage
The State reported earlier this week about a lawsuit filed by Lexington-Richland 5 school board vice chairman Ken Loveless in 2013 over an altercation in a Sprint store that ended in an assault charge against him. Loveless is suing two of his constituents for defamation over critical comments they made on Facebook.
After the publication of the Sprint lawsuit story on Tuesday, Loveless attorney Desa Ballard provided The State with a statement on Loveless’ behalf. Some of the comments were added to the story.
Here is the entire statement.
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I welcome the opportunity to respond to your report regarding my prior litigation with Sprint.
As one who strives (to) set an example for the students of District Five and lead by example, I have always and will continue to take such action as I believe necessary to stop bullying. The Sprint situation about which you wrote is one I cannot discuss in detail because of a non disclosure agreement entered into as part of that resolution.
Needless to say, I do not condone bullying and my goal has been to react appropriately when someone attempts to bully me. I filed suit against Sprint when necessary, and I have recently filed additional suits to stop defamatory statements being made against me. By that I mean false statements about me. Constructive criticism is welcome, but lies are not.
My wife Jondy served on the School Board before I did, and she and I together share the same goals for District Five. The School Board has been under attack for several years because of various issues, complicated by COVID restrictions and other factor beyond our control. Some of the criticisms of the Board may have merit, some do not. Some former members of the Board have taken positions adverse to the Board after leaving office in what appears to be an effort to keep dissent stirring and perhaps for other purposes. Many instances of that dissent have been aimed at me and my efforts to serve the District. One of my goals, when I ran for the Board, was to inquire into what I believed what financial overreach by certain construction contractors the District has dealt with the in the past and I continue those efforts. I believe steps have been taken to attempt to silence me on that issue, and, as with everything I do, I will not succumb to bullying or lies being told about me. Nor will I refuse to do my job as a member of the Board, which is to contribute what I can to the improvement of the District and to benefit its students, parents and staff.
Allegations of a hostile work environment in the District have been made about the current Board and past Board members, in what I believe is an effort to keep dissent simmering. When I filed the two recent suits, my attorney said we will not be making any further public statements, and I had hoped to let the Courts deal with these matters on their merits. That is made more difficult by articles such as Mr. Marchant’s, which attempt to dig up old facts to try to continue to sling mud at the Board and at me in particular and to conflate bits of truth with rumor, innuendo, deceit and lies.
I will not tolerate bullying, defamation or other wrongful actions against me. I will do what I can to protect our District as well. Students should not have to endure it. I learned last week that the District has been offered tools for helping to combat bullying that have been ignored in the past. While I cannot change the past, I can continue to lead by example, and I firmly believe that the truth will insure to the benefit of the students, faculty and parents of the District. The current lawsuits, as well as the Sprint lawsuit, are evidence that I want the students, the parents and the staff to know about and to appreciate as efforts by me to insure the truth is what leads us all as we strive collectively to maintain and even improve our great school district.
While I had not intended to comment publicly on the current lawsuits, I do so now only because The State Newspaper has taken affirmative actions to harm the School District, the students, and our communities. If Mr. Marchant intended to throw shade at me by publishing an article about the prior lawsuit I brought against Sprint, shame on him. I welcome the truth and constructive criticism. However, if I refuse to stand up for myself or for the District, shame on me.
I intend to continue to do my job, and to do everything in my power to insure positive results for the District, and especially for the students. They must learn that bullying cannot be tolerated, and I hope they see me as an example and role model for themselves.
I do not intend to comment further on the prior or current lawsuits, but I will continue to take any action necessary to get to the truth and to insure that the communities I serve know what the truth is.
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