Investigation finds Lee Schools whistleblower complaint lacks evidence

After more than a year of looking into a whistleblower complaint, an independent investigation concluded the School District of Lee County’s communication department did not violate the law and found no evidence to confirm the whistleblower’s allegations.

District documents show the whistleblower was an employee in the Lee Schools Communications Department when the complaint was filed on Feb. 23, 2022. It claimed they were being asked to perform duties outside the scope of their job, subjected to a hostile work environment, asked to spy on the public using district resources via social media, made fun of by at least one superior, fielded calls from upset parents without adequate resources and that public resources were deliberately slowed down for certain requestors.

WINK News first reported on the issues in March 2022, when multiple Lee County School Board members expressed concern, worried that the communications department was crossing the line with inappropriate conduct.

The independent investigation, which was performed by Wright Mediation Inc. of Fort Myers, was completed in September 2022. However, a rebuttal to the investigation was also filed by the whistleblower. A final memorandum to file was not signed by district staff until April 21, 2023.

The eight-page report found “no evidence to support any violations of law or the whistleblower’s allegations.”

The conclusion also found “several instances wherein situations regarding the whistleblower should have been handled differently.” These instances include times when communication could have been improved and one instance when the whistleblower was not adequately protected from an official who could have retaliated over the complaint.

Following the investigation, the whistleblower responded, citing instances of perceived hostility and retaliation from district staff. The whistleblower also stated concerns about potential biases in the investigation.

WINK News reached out to Wright Mediation Inc. to learn more about how the conclusion of the investigation was reached, but they did not return our messages.

WINK News requested to interview several Lee School officials who were included in the complaint and interviewed for the investigation, but the district declined. Lee Schools has denied all of WINK’s interview requests related to this story.

The district did release a statement to WINK News, saying: “The School District of Lee County takes all whistleblower complaints and any allegations of misconduct very seriously. Staff immediately acts and reviews/investigates all complaints received. If appropriate, an investigation may be referred to an outside attorney/investigator, which was done in relation to the whistleblower complaint against the Communications Department. The investigative report for this complaint found no evidence to support the allegations nor did it find that any laws were violated. The District respects and accepts the outcomes of this investigation.”