Employee, purported witness, wages petition drive for “Zero Tolerance”
by Robert Lynch; July 1, 2026
If true, the allegations stand serious. If false, making them was irresponsible. Whatever the case, a purported long-time Ithaca City School District (ICSD) employee, one whose two children went through the Ithaca system, brought allegations before the Ithaca Board of Education Tuesday that students at Ithaca High School, specifically white players on the high school football team, have committed racially-charged hazing offenses against one or more students as recently as this year. She claimed to be a witness.
When she made the charge, the complaining current—or former—employee, Sandra Wold, evoked a testy response from at least one board member and was advised by the meeting’s presiding officer, the school board’s vice president, that the board “will not disclose those matters in public while they’re being looked into.”
The incidents to which Wold referred, alleged hazing in 2023 and again this year, purportedly involved sexual assault. Neither allegation has been independently corroborated by Ithaca City School District officials. As a result, the details shared by Wold and others on social media will not be reported here until they’re confirmed.
“I’m here today to tell you about a problem I’ve noticed,” Wold began her public comment to the Board of Education June 30. “There’s been two hazing incidents I’ve reported, and I haven’t gotten any response from the board in a way that makes me wonder if you all understand that hazing is a national epidemic,” the instructor continued.
Wold represented herself as a roughly 20-year ICSD employee holding a Master’s degree and one who’s worked in education for three decades.
Posting on Facebook prior to the meeting in a message supposedly sponsored by the group, “Ithacans for Student Safety,” Wold called for an “ICSD Zero Tolerance Policy for Hazing.” She and the group circulated an online petition calling for such a policy.
The petition also urged that the school district “obtain an FBI investigation for recent and past hazing allegations to fully understand and address the hazing problem.”
In her public comments Tuesday, before she was cut off by members of the board, Wold took particular aim at the ICSD’s “Restorative Justice” disciplinary policy; a policy that she claimed punishes offenders too little and fails to refer hazing incidents to the police.
“Because the school district will not suspend, will not expel, and will not make law enforcement referrals,” Wold maintained, “that has given a green light to those—it’s only a few perpetrators—to do what they did.”
“I walked into a huddle of white…” Wold continued, only to be cut off in mid-sentence by an animated and visibly angry Erin Croyle, a member of the ICSD board.
“Sorry; no sorry,” Croyle interrupted. “You are disclosing students… You are disclosing information about students,” Croyle shouted back.
Wold attempted to defend herself, stating that she had not identified any student or students by name. Board member interruptions continued.
Croyle’s colleague, Karen Yearwood, then entered the discussion.
“You’re not saying any names,” Yearwood acknowledged. “But you’ve also stated that there has been no response,” she said. “So we need to end this discussion.”
Accuser Wold wanted a deeper response to her allegations. But Board Vice President Garrick Blalock joined in ending Wold’s comments and then moving on to other matters.
“I state for the record that when the district receives written complaints about matters, the district—or I should say, the board—will not discuss those matters in public while they’re being looked into,” Blalock stated firmly. “Public comment is over.”
“I hope that the victims come forward and let you know,” Wold pleaded before her speaking time had ended.
“All of your emails have gone to the relevant parties,” Yearwood assured the critic.
The Sandra Wold/Ithacans for Student Safety petition, circulated on Facebook, had reportedly received as many as 67 signatories as of midday Wednesday.
The online initiative advanced a seven-point “Zero Tolerance” policy it seeks the ICSD to adopt. Among those requests, it urges increased “education and awareness,” and also a requirement that administrators and coaches “sign anti-hazing statements.” It further requests that the distract institute “prompt suspensions, season cancellations, expulsions, (and) law enforcement referrals” to punish hazing offenses.
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At the Board of Education’s final meeting of the 2025-26 academic year, the board June 30 authorized time-sensitive asbestos remediation to facilitate the repair of flood damage at Cayuga Heights Elementary School (CHES).
Little discussion preceded the unanimous vote of the six attending members to contract with MJ’s Contracting for the abatement work. The Waterville, NY company will remove asbestos-contaminated flooring in ground-floor learning space that was damaged when a flash flood March 31 spilled down a hillside in back of the school and caused what could be more than one million dollars in damage.
To expedite repairs, the abatement contract circumvented the customary bidding process. This particular phase of the project became calendar-sensitive because unlike other work, asbestos removal can only take place when students aren’t in the building.
Contract approval came as part of an otherwise routinely adopted, 21-item consent agenda.
Providing details after the meeting, Travis Randall, Senior Project Manager with Campus Construction Management, the ICSD’s consultant, said asbestos abatement should commence by about “the third week of July” and conclude by August 15, well before the start of school.
Remaining bids for other aspects of the CHES repairs are set to be opened at the end of July. Randall cautioned that repairs will continue throughout the 2026-27 academic year and won’t finish until next summer.
MJ’s Contracting will receive $118,447 for its services. Its was the lower of two bids received. Randall indicated that on a normal time schedule as many as five contractors might bid. But fewer bid for this project, the project manager said, because many remediation contractors were already booked for the summer.
Despite the fewer bids, Randall described the winning bidder’s price as within expectations.
Asbestos remediation, although the first major contract to be awarded for repair work at CHES, will cost the ICSD only a fraction of the total repair cost.
In April, the school board assigned up to $1.5 Million in previously budgeted funds to underwrite the flood remediation. It’s expected the district’s insurance policy will cover $500,000 of the expense. Board members also predicted at the time that not all of the $1.5 Million may be needed.
Randall said Tuesday that what the ICSD pays out-of-pocket will also qualify for state aid.
Within days of the late-March flood, a clean-up contractor, Servpro, began removing damaged carpets and drywall so as to stem the spread of mold.
Flooring and drywall replacements will continue into the upcoming school year, Randall said, and will require students and classes to move about the building from time to time.
The March 31 Cayuga Heights flood occurred during the ICSD spring break. By the following Monday, when classes resumed, CHES had reopened, with learning partially moved to the building’s upper floor.
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By quick, unanimous action, following a more than hour-long executive session, one addressing subjects undisclosed, the board unanimously awarded the district’s managerial and confidential staff four percent raises for the 2026-27 school year. That compares to the seven percent salary increase awarded the district’s nearly 600 teachers in their recently-negotiated contract.
And the June 30 meeting officially marked the end of Sean Eversley Bradwell’s 17-year tenure on the Ithaca Board of Education, the last four years as Board President.
That said, Eversley Bradwell did not attend his final meeting. A district spokesman said that the outgoing president had hoped to attend remotely. But that didn’t happen.
Board members and district officials had paid tribute to Eversley Bradwell and his years of service at an earlier board meeting, June 9.
Also excused from her final meeting was Madeline Cardona, elected to a one-year board term in May 2025, but replaced by another candidate in this latest May’s election.
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