Molly Seifert sat on the stage in the auditorium at Beechwood High School. She was at the end of a row of tables shaped like a horseshoe, occupied by the district’s board of education.
“I’m here to speak on behalf of young women who have been sexually harassed, abused or groomed in the school setting,” Seifert said, looking at each board member, along with newly appointed Superintendent Justin Kaiser. “I am one of these women.”
Seifert is a teacher and the parent of a Beechwood graduate.
“When I graduated from high school in 1995 the word grooming didn’t exist yet,” Seifert said.
But the practice did, she said, as evidenced by her history teacher’s behavior.
“I approached the administration at the time, but I was brushed aside, like many young women oftentimes are,” Seifert said. “Years later, at a family dinner, my younger cousin mentioned that the same thing happened to her. Same school, same teacher. That teacher went on to have a 40 year career in education.”
Now, she said, that same scenario could have happened again, but here at Beechwood.
Seifert taught the woman who testified before the Kentucky Legislature in 2023 about a teacher who she said groomed her and had sexual contact with her while she was a student at Beechwood High School in 2020.
On behalf of that student, Seifert listed five things the district should do: Admit past mistakes, apologize, report allegations as reported by law, and advocate for legislation that would make this behavior illegal.
“Five, provide resources for parents to learn more about grooming and sexual misconduct so they can help their children identify this behavior,” Seifert said. “And most importantly, number six, believe young women.”
Siefert hit at something every public speaker at Monday night’s Beechwood Board of Education agreed with: The district needs to learn how to communicate with parents.
Monday’s meeting was the first official board of education meeting since news came out that former Superintendent Mike Stacy was permanently barred from renewing his certification to work in schools in Kentucky.
In short, Stacy was barred from renewing his certification because he didn’t report what he found out in a 2022 meeting about a series of incidents in 2020 involving a teacher and student to a division of the state board of education. Stacy claims that because the Kentucky State Police, which conducted the 2022 meeting, brought the investigation to Beechwood, he didn’t have any further responsibility to report the information. He also said he was not in the room for certain portions of the interview.
Click here to read the full story, which includes the accusations, the 2022 interview, and the superintendent and district’s responses.
The board met on July 8, 2025, according to an email sent to parents, to discuss the way the district and superintendent handled the accusations.
In short, the email says that if similar circumstances arise in the future, the school will react differently than it did in the 2020 incident, though it doesn’t go into detail about the incident.
“Going forward, should similar circumstances arise, our new superintendent will report according to KRS,” the email says. “Additionally, the superintendent will communicate to the Board of Education and Beechwood families as appropriate under the law.”
Read the full email below.
Beechwood parent Lisa Meiman also addressed the board Monday night.
“You guys knew what happened,” she said. “We should have been all made aware of what happened in a legal way, so that you weren’t violating any laws, but so that parents could talk to their children.”
Many parents didn’t know this happened, Meiman said.
Those parents “didn’t have the opportunity to speak to their children to verify that their children had not been put in a position of abuse,” Meiman said.
In terms of what the district should have done, Meiman said something like this would be a good start.
“Please speak to your children about the possibility that they came in contact with someone that behaves in any way inappropriately,” Meiman said.
Further, Meiman said, students were told to “stop spreading rumors” if anyone heard them talking about the incident at school.
“When you’re asking for silence from children of sexual abuse, you’re inviting the abuser to be the winner,” Meiman said. “We should have provided counselors. We should have provided the parents the opportunity to speak to a professional so that they could know how to best speak to their children and protect their children. That’s all we want: to protect our children. That’s the only reason that we’re outraged.”
Kristi Hiner, another Beechwood parent, expressed disgust that the school district wasn’t more forthcoming with parents.
“Instead of apologies, it appears the administration has closed ranks, hiding behind legal technicalities,” Hiner said. ”Generic emails have been sent out with clear legalese, covering the board on technicalities, but where is the ethical fortitude?”
So what would be a good outcome, Hiner posed to the board?
“Personally, I think those involved in this cover up should resign, but I know that that’s not going to happen,” Hiner said. “So let’s start with a few simple things.”
Hiner reiterated that parents want an apology from the district for how the situation was handled.
“Two,” she said, “recognize why the community feels so upset and betrayed. Three, put plans in place to not just toe the line of legality, but to do the right thing. Four, adding structures to the school that support and encourage students to report sexual empathy. Five, engage members of the community to help.”
Toward the end of the meeting, which was Kaiser’s first as superintendent, Kaiser gave a statement. That statement included remarks about the situation involving the teacher in 2020.
If anything like what happened in 2020 should happen again, Kaiser said, “it is also our duty to communicate with families throughout the process.”
That communication, Kaiser said, may not include details or names. But it will include, he said, “Communication just to make sure our families know what is going on. Communication and transparency are only words until they are an action. We will move from telling you what we are doing to why we are doing it.”
In closing, Kaiser said, he wanted to make sure that if anyone at all wants to talk to him, they should pick up the phone and call.
“Under my guidance,” Kaiser said, “this district will always have open doors and open lines.”
Kaiser did not include a phone number at which he could be reached during the meeting, but according to the district’s website, it is 859-331-1220, extension 6603. His email address is Justin.Kaiser@Beechwood.Kyschools.us.
Amanda Rosen, another parent who spoke at the meeting Monday night, said that Beechwood’s lack of communication before this is a “copout.”
“There was no email to families, no clear acknowledgement, no accountability, and some were supposed to accept that as leadership,” Rosen said. “I can say that Dr. Stacy did good things during his tenure, but being a leader doesn’t mean defending someone’s entire legacy as flawless. Leadership means doing the hard thing even when it’s uncomfortable, and loyalty without question is dangerous.”
Each speaker ended their talk with a list of things they hoped the district would do better. The effort was not coordinated, though the messaging was so similar it would have easy to believe if it were.
Beechwood parents, they all said, just want to know what is going on so they can keep their children safe.
“Trust was broken by the teacher, which was hard enough, but recognizing that the administration is just as untrustworthy is worse,” Hiner said in her concluding remarks. “I trusted my children to you, and you absolutely failed.”
