BROOKLYN, MI – Around 50 farewell messages filled the white board inside teacher Jacob Boone’s classroom in January memorializing a student from his class who would be “forever missed.”
After the 14-year-old student’s picture was posted on the white board, the Columbia Junior High School teacher took an active role in making sure other students left “rest in peace” messages on it. Boone’s room later played “funeral music” to mark the occasion.
The student wasn’t dead, though. The teen was absent from class due to a current death in the family.
While the student was out of the classroom, however, the multi-day prank spread to social media, with some students posting a fake “news flash” announcing the student had been found dead. At least one other school district saw the notice and offered assistance in light of the “loss of a student,” a Columbia School District investigation into the incident found.
Boone was suspended for six weeks, but he has since returned to the classroom and was recently hired as varsity track coach. This has angered the student’s family and some Columbia School Board members.
“I feel very let down by the school board,” said the student’s mother, who is not being identified in this story to protect the identity of the student. “I’m just beside myself on the whole thing.”
After the investigation, Boone was suspended without pay from Feb. 19 to April 1 for acting “carelessly and unprofessionally,” according to his personnel file, which was obtained by MLive/Jackson Citizen Patriot via a Freedom of Information Act request.
Boone declined to comment for this story.
While Columbia School District Superintendent James Baker informed Boone in a Feb. 6 letter that he would recommend his termination at the board’s Feb. 12 meeting, due to his misconduct and “lack of professional judgment,” the school board ultimately voted 4-3 in Please keep Boone.
Board members Crystal Buter, Roger Downey and Jennifer Steele voted against the motion, while Robert Wahr, Brian Knapp, Kyle Bamm and Lindsey Schiel voted in favor of Boone’s continued employment.
Boone, who has been a Columbia Junior High School science teacher since 2021, entered a “last chance agreement” with the district after a closed session during the Feb. 12 meeting.
The parties agreed that additional substantiated misconduct by Boone would result in immediate termination. The agreement also stipulated that Boone does not have interactions with students “as a teacher and/or coach” until April 2.
Boone returned to work on April 1 – the deadline for him to enter the “last chance agreement.” By a 5-2 vote on April 8, the Columbia School Board approved appointing him as varsity track coach as part of a larger set of personnel actions on the meeting’s consent agenda, despite objections from Buter and Downey.
Buter, who has been on the board a little more than a year, said she doesn’t think a number of board members take issues of potential teacher discipline seriously.
“You’re rewarding him with a varsity track coach position, which I think is absurd and wrong,” Buter said. “That’s not anything to joke about. “I think as a teacher, you’re an adult and you should know better.”
The student’s mother agrees and also objects to Boone being able to coach at Columbia Central.
She said she learned about the classroom incident when she received a phone call from the school district, checking on her child’s well-being after rumors about the child’s death had caused confusion.
She said her child is also confused about why the teacher targeted them, and the teen has been unfairly impacted by the fallout from it by being removed from the class. The student now visits the counseling office when the class takes place.
“No parent wants to see a memorial of their child,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe that a teacher would think that was OK or that it was funny at all.”
Baker, the superintendent, did not respond to requests for comment or to explain how the district handled the student’s removal from the class after the incident. Knapp, the board president, also did not respond to requests for comment.
Boone’s last chance agreement states he cooperated with the investigation and admitted to his conduct. The agreement will remain in place for the duration of Boone’s employment with the Columbia School District.
Boone was hired by Columbia in 2021, after teaching in Maine. His personnel file indicates he was interested in the position because he wanted to move closer to family. His personnel file shows he received “highly effective” ratings in both of his yearly evaluations of him.
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