Woodland Hills School District
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Updated – December 2024
A Woodland Hills School District [WHSD] board member has filed an ethics complaint against the district alleging misappropriation of taxpayer funds.
A CBS News report said, “Darnika Reed and another former school board member say they have complaints about a number of issues, including accusing district leaders of altering official documents, identity theft, and violations of the Sunshine Act.”
Reed was quoted as saying:
“‘The most egregious part is that we believe that money has been spent without school board approval and without school board knowledge. This is taxpayer funding that’s being spent and the taxpayers need to know exactly how their money is being spent.’”
A live report from CBS Pittsburgh can be viewed below.
After a 5-4 board vote in October 2024, Reed was censured for allegedly sharing proprietary district information on social media.
As reported by WTAE 4 News, “In a statement from the school district, Reed had ‘made a series of social media posts in which she shared internal district email correspondence from various members of the district staff and other board members without prior consent.”
Most of the board members believed that Reed violated Board Policy 815. As a result, Reed lost the ability to use district email networks and technology. Reed stated that she had no regrets and that “the public needed to know.”
Reed continues to serve as an active WHSD Board of Education representative. This profile will be updated as more information becomes available.
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Published – May 18, 2022
In March 2022, the district ended its universal mask mandate. However, the district reimplemented a mask mandate on May 5, 2022 that was scheduled to last for 10 days. In a message posted on the school website, the Superintendent writes:
“Allegheny County has moved to the “medium” threat range for Covid exposure/cases. With this information, along with the increase of cases in each school … we are now making masks mandatory for the next 10 days (effective immediately).”
In a pop-up on the homepage of the website, the district says the mask mandate is scheduled to end on May 23rd. The mask requirement applies to all extracurricular activities as well, except for those who are actively participating. Masks are to be worn on the buses to and from events and by all coaches, trainers, and spectators.
On May 11, 2022, the school district addressed a video posted and later deleted on Facebook that showed a student assaulting another student while a teacher watched. In the video, a male student gets up from his desk and walks over to a female student he’s arguing with. A male teacher can be heard in the background saying, “Now I’m going to have to start writing referrals.” The male student strikes the female and repeatedly punches her until she falls out of her chair. At no point during the altercation does the teacher intervene.
The school district announced that it would be “disciplining everyone involved.” Daniel Castagna, the district’s acting superintendent, said:
“We are extremely disappointed and disheartened with this horrible incident. The Woodland Hills School District administration and the Board of School Directors are both committed to aggressively disciplining everyone involved and in supporting all students who were impacted.”
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Woodland Hills School District is located in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The district is made up of 5 schools with a total enrollment of 3,302 students.
