At the start of public comment on Sept. 30, Quisha Ward and Mark Stuckey delivered emotional statements alleging personnel mistreatment and workplace bullying. Ward described being terminated while on approved FMLA and said she feels the district allowed a principal to hurt her. "You let him hurt me... You let him illegally terminate me," Ward said during public comment, adding that she was caring for "two children, one alive, one dead" and that the situation has caused her ongoing distress.

Mark Stuckey, who identified himself as a district employee and described himself as a whistleblower, said he was opting out of a state-mandated program (CSC) and alleged ongoing staff harassment and instances of what he described as employee time theft. "If the administration cannot respect staff and stop harassing, bullying them, tormenting them, then what's the sense in taking that program," Stuckey said. He also said he had reported a case of an employee who "stole time, money from the taxpayers."

Shortly after the public comment period, the board made a motion to enter executive session "for the purpose of discussing pending litigation, the financial history of a particular person or corporation, all matters leading to the appointment, employment, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person or corporation and to receive legal advice on a pending matter." The motion was seconded, and the board voted in favor; the chair announced the meeting would recess for executive session for approximately 25–30 minutes. When the public meeting reconvened later in the evening, the chair announced the board had returned from executive session; no summary of actions taken in executive session was read into the public record during reconvened proceedings.

The statements by Ward and Stuckey are allegations made by public commenters; the board did not make any contemporaneous public statement confirming or denying the details raised. The transcript shows the board followed open-meeting procedures by moving into a closed session to discuss the types of personnel and legal matters the motion described.