Southern Michigan parents angry over promotion of prankster
Brooklyn — When an eighth-grader was absent for several days in January, a teacher and classmates at their school in this southern Michigan community staged a mock memorial service. It was just a class prank, but news of the supposed death spread to another school district, which was convinced the student had died.
Teacher Jake Boone narrowly avoided dismissal by the Columbia Board of Education, which instead suspended him for six weeks without pay.
And then, a week after returning to work, he was promoted to head coach of the Columbia Central High School track and field team.
Neither the student’s mother nor several board members are happy about it.
The mother, Michelle Webb, said Boone should have been fired. The fact that he was named coach was unbelievable, she said.
“It was a slap in the face,” said Webb. “Never in my life did I believe he would get promoted.”
But other parents rallied behind Boone, 34, a popular teacher and coach at Columbia Central Junior High School, 10 miles southeast of Jackson.
Parents described him as caring and conscientious, a role model for their children and someone who devoted much of his free time to teaching and training.
“I love Jake. I think he’s a wonderful coach and a great person,” said Holly Gorton, whose son is on the track team.
Boone did not respond to requests for comment.
How the controversy began
Boone, who teaches environmental science, has been a teacher and coach at the school for three years. Before that, he taught for three years at a high school in Strong, Maine.
In January, one of his students, 14-year-old Randy Webb, missed nearly a week of school to attend his grandmother’s funeral, Michelle Webb said. Someone joked about the absence and suggested holding a mock memorial service.
Boone and his students then hung a photo of Webb on a whiteboard and asked students to leave messages of remembrance, according to a report in Boone’s personnel file, made available through a public records request. The report said Boone played an active role in the prank, but did not explain how.
Boone told the school board in a closed session that he gave the photo to students and included Webb’s birth date, information that was added to the memorial, said council member Roger Downey.
“(He said) it was just some kind of error in judgment,” Downey said.
For two days, 60 students from Boone’s classes left messages on the whiteboard, the incident report states. On the second day, someone played funeral music.
The messages were joking, similar to what you might write in someone’s yearbook. Students teased him about liking the Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift. (He’s not a real Swiftie.)
“8thth “The best D-lineman I knew,” one student wrote of Webb, who played defensive lineman for the school’s team. “The best cheerleader I know,” said another. “I hope he can still listen to Taylor in heaven,” said a third.
A student posted a fake news report from BBC News on Snapchat. It included a photo of Webb in his football uniform standing on the school’s football field.
“Randy Lynn Webb found dead,” it said. “Randy was found dead by police on January 11th.”
According to the incident report, Addison Community Schools, a nearby school district, contacted Columbia to ask if it could offer assistance to grieving students. Michelle Webb said she received a call from Columbia to check on her son’s well-being.
Randy Webb told the Detroit News that several students told him they thought he had died.
“It was insane. People thought I was dead,” he said. “I don’t know if there are rules, but he went (too far).”
Dismissal demanded but rejected
In response to the killing, school board member James Baker recommended that Boone be fired for misconduct and lack of professional judgment.
According to a copy of the contract contained in his personnel file, the probationary teacher earned $54,000 a year as a teacher and $2,420 as an assistant track and field coach.
Before that, Boone had received glowing annual evaluations at Columbia University and at his previous job in Maine, according to personnel records. During his three years at Columbia, he received the highest rating of “very effective.”
“Thank you for all you do!” wrote Pamela Campbell, the school’s former principal, in a 2023 letter announcing Boone’s third year of probation. “Congratulations on your exemplary teaching and work well done!”
During a school board meeting in February, the seven-member council considered Baker’s recommendation to fire Boone. Dozens of parents and students filled the Columbia Elementary School gymnasium, Downey and Gorton said. They also wrote letters to the school district.
They praised Boone as a hard worker and a person of high integrity. They said his easy-going demeanor helped him connect with young people. They said he inspired students in their studies and in sports.
Boone sacrificed his weekends to help her son train for the track team, Gorton said. Her child also felt he could confide in Boone about his personal life, she said.
“I could list a thousand things,” Gorton told The Detroit News. “He cares so much about the children and their families.”
After listening to the speakers, the board questioned Boone in a two-hour closed session and decided how to discipline him, Downey said. They then voted 4-3 to let him keep his job.
The board, which found Boone guilty, suspended him for six weeks without pay and required him to sign a last-chance agreement stating that any further misconduct would result in his immediate termination. He was also supposed to meet with the Webbs if they wanted to, but the family refused.
Running into a rhubarb
Boone was relieved of his suspension on April 1. A week later, the school board held its regular monthly meeting.
As part of the agenda, the board approved a number of items in a single vote: April 8 meeting, voting minutes, financial reports, hiring and resignations. The topics are usually uncontroversial, but this agenda included another item – the promotion of Boone to track and field coach.
Board members Downey and Crystal Buter voted against the agenda because of Boone’s inclusion.
“It seems like there is no accountability at all,” Buter told The News. “It’s like asking: When do you start caring about student safety?”
Downey agreed, saying he knew Boone was a good coach, but given recent disciplinary action, the timing of the promotion was completely wrong.
“It’s a science class. They’re supposed to be doing science,” he said. “If he can’t control the class or the board, I really don’t want him teaching.”
The agenda was approved by a vote of 5 to 2. Most of the board members who approved it declined to discuss the matter and referred questions to Baker, the superintendent or school board chairman Brian Knapp.
Baker did not respond to emails or phone calls for several weeks.
When asked why the board promoted Boone immediately after his disciplinary action, Knapp responded with a prepared statement.
“The Columbia School District understands the importance of public perception and community interest in our decisions,” Knapp wrote. “The school board is committed to ensuring that appropriate policies are in place and decisions are made based on compliance with applicable policies.”
When asked whether the action sent the wrong message to the community, he did not answer.
Five months after the incident, Michelle Webb is still angry. She said she raised the issue during the two public portions of the school board meeting in May and then left early after being reprimanded for speaking up too late.
She told The News she was baffled by how a board that came within a whisker of firing Boone could still allow him to be promoted.
Webb said the decision to keep Boone will continue to affect her son because his participation in school events and sports will be limited. Her son said he does not want to participate in any activity that Boone is involved in.
“He was so close to being fired,” she said of Boone’s near-firing. “I don’t understand it. I just don’t understand it.”
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