Wednesday’s breaking news on the arrest of elementary teacher Megan Sloan sent shock waves through the Sapulpa community and left a lot of unanswered questions, many of which begged, how could this have been avoided?
This morning Superintendent Rob Armstrong released a district-wide statement that was intended to encompass several current issues within the district. “We have worked for the last two and a half days on some serious allegations, on multiple issues,” he said. Those multiple issues are the arrest of Megan Sloan for alleged drug charges and the suspension of a teacher and coach on staff, James Factor.
Factor is currently on paid leave while undergoing an investigation into alleged inappropriate behavior, the details of which cannot be disclosed. Factor is a Sapulpa High School math teacher and wrestling coach.
“Our safety for our kids and our community is a priority and so we will continue to do that. If we could share the whole story, that would be great but we can’t, we are prohibited from doing that.”
Superintendent Robert Armstrong
“While we are collecting information, Oklahoma statutes prohibit us from releasing any information in regards to suspensions, demotions, resignations, terminations, and we are in the middle of those investigations,” said Armstrong. “Would I love to be able to comment on so much that is going out there? Absolutely. Because it would probably dry up a lot of this in a hurry. But I can’t.”
Posts made to a private Facebook group yesterday revealed possible information that would leave the general public to believe the school district knew as early as August of 2015 that Sloan could possibly have been under the influence of drugs.
In July of 2015, Holmes Park Elementary Principal Bobby Alfred was tipped off to Sloan’s behavior via an anonymous message. Alfred followed protocol by notifying Sapulpa Police Resource Officer Diehl and alerting then HR Director Rob Armstrong.
The captured image also shows Armstrong’s communication to the anonymous informant requesting additional information, however that person claims they had not checked that account until several days ago.
Alfred’s request to drug test Sloan was not approved. Alfred began to make classroom observations and even submitted a “bag of crunchy white stuff” to be tested which came back negative. “She had our attention previously but was not arrested or charged with anything,” said Major Mike Reed of the Sapulpa Police Department.
“We take it very serious. We review our policies, we look at them and we have to follow them as well. We have to be able to substantiate why we are doing things. We can’t just go out on a whim because somebody gives us information or a tip and say go change the world.”
Armstrong also stated he had no knowledge of Sloan being a tenant of Larry Hoover, who sits on the School Board.
