A rural Lane County school superintendent is under investigation by state ethics officials for allegedly hiring his wife to work at the district.
Superintendent Adam Watkins has led the Blachly School District, about 25 miles northwest of Eugene, since 2020.
During a meeting last week, Oregon Government Ethics Commission Investigator Josh Sullivan said Watkins appeared to have created an online counselor job for his wife, which is a potential conflict of interest.
“It appears (his wife) was the only person contacted about filling the position and this position was not made available to the general public,” Sullivan told commission members.
Sullivan said she was on the district’s payroll for two school years.
After the complaint was filed, Watkins submitted several letters of support. Sullivan said it appeared that the letters may have been altered from their original versions without the writers’ knowledge. Sullivan said Watkins said he had permission to edit the letters.
Watkins did not attend the meeting where his case was being discussed.
The commission, which voted 6-0 to proceed with the case, has six months to complete a full investigation. If the commission finds evidence of a violation, it can further investigate, seek a settlement, hold a hearing or pursue other actions.
The district, which consists of a single K-12 charter school and online programs, has fewer than 400 students, according to its most recent Oregon Department of Education profile.
Watkins has faced scrutiny from oversight officials before. In 2019, he was reprimanded by Oregon’s Teacher Standards and Practices Commission for allegedly violating sexual harassment policies at the Salem-Keizer School District in 2016. According to the reprimand, Watkins resigned from his job there in 2017.
Watkins did not respond to a call from KLCC requesting comment or a request sent to his district email.
