NANKIN — Mapleton High School Vocational Agriculture teacher Adam Bode has agreed to resign from his position at the end of the school year. He will remain on paid leave through July 31.
According to the terms a separation agreement approved by the district board of education Friday, Bode agreed to resign in exchange for pay through the end of the year as well as pay for 60 days of accrued but unused sick time and a neutral letter of reference.
Bode has been a teacher at Mapleton High School since 2010 and was freshman class advisor and FFA advisor up until he was placed on paid leave late last year.
Bode’s Feb. 8 resignation letter followed two pre-termination letters sent from superintendent Scott Smith to Bode on Jan. 8 and Feb. 4. In the letters, the superintendent informed Bode of his intent to ask the school board to consider initiating termination proceedings. Smith went on to list the grounds for the board’s consideration of Bode’s termination.
Bode has been on paid leave from the district since Dec. 7, pending an investigation into allegations he used inappropriate physical restraint to discipline a student. The Ashland County Sheriff’s Office investigated the incident, and no charges were filed.
Records from the school district show Bode’s disciplinary issues began prior to the alleged incident.
In October 2018, Bode was issued two verbal warnings and one written reprimand. The warnings were given for failure to report a planned absence, resulting in students being unsupervised, as well as for failure to provide adequate supervision to students using dangerous machines in the agriculture shop.
The reprimand came after various fire and safety regulation infractions were discovered in the ag shop during an inspection.
In the second of two pre-termination notices, Smith cited the following 12 reasons the board would consider firing Bode at the board’s Feb. 11 meeting:
1. Significant decline in agriculture and FFA enrollment, including current students dropping out of Bode’s classes.
2. Failure to provide students with clear expectations of class procedures and grading policies.
3. Inappropriate treatment of students in front of peers.
4. Inconsistent classroom management.
5. Statements from students and parents about Bode’s poor teaching performance as the reason for students dropping out of the program.
6. Failure to report planned leave prior to attending a function on two occasions, resulting in unsupervised classes.
7. Failure to supervise students using dangerous equipment.
8. Safety and fire violations resulting in the State Fire Marshal threatening to shut down part of the building. Many of the violations were previously brought to Bode’s attention by the superintendent but were not corrected.
9. Failure to properly implement an individualized education plan for a student.
10. Inappropriately lowering student grades because of dissatisfaction with parent/teacher conference meal preparation, which is not a curricular activity.
11. Informing students that the volume of sales in a fundraising effort would determine their grade in the program.
12. An allegation of unwanted inappropriate physical contact with a student. Bode allegedly placed and kept a hand on a student’s neck while the student was walking to throw food away.
Bode did not return a phone call for comment on this story.
