Dayton schools: Undercover video didn’t ‘necessarily cut out key information’

Dayton school officials have somewhat adjusted their claim that an undercover video purporting to show staff members helping parents break state law was “very selectively edited.”

Now, Dayton school officials said the video fails to show the district’s follow-up efforts.

Accuracy in Media released the video, which the group said shows Dayton Public Schools employees telling one of its undercover investigative journalists how they can circumvent a 2024 state law that bars males from participating in female-only sports. In an interview with Ohio.News, the group’s president questioned whether the state’s law is strong enough to deter such behavior.

“The district takes this matter seriously,” the district told Ohio.News in a statement. “Upon reviewing the full context of the interaction, including subsequent communications that occurred, we believe the video has been very selectively edited with key details omitted.”

In an interview with Ohio.News, a spokesperson for the district said it doesn’t necessarily think the video

“I guess we don’t really think that the video necessarily cut out key information,” Alex Kincaid, a spokeswoman for Dayton Public Schools, said. “It’s just more so that the district did follow up to share the official transgender policy.

“That employee, you know, said, ‘Let me get back to you.’ And then the email wasn’t a real email, and then the phone calls, she left multiple messages that were never returned,” Kincaid added. “…What they left out was that the district actually tried to follow up to provide correct information after that employee said, … ‘Let me get back to you.’”

The district did not respond to an Ohio.News request to release the email.

Adam Guillette, president of Accuracy in Media, previously told Ohio.News the group would be willing to share the entire video with the school system. Dayton officials said they don’t plan to speak with Accuracy in Media.

“I don’t think that they’re interested in accuracy,” Dayton Schools Superintendent Dr. David Lawrence said in an interview. “I don’t think they’re interested in hearing our side. I think they were interested in telling a story. It met a certain political leaning in terms of how people feel about transgender athletes. So again, large organization, we’re really busy. We try to streamline our time and be as efficient as possible. I don’t think it’ll be of any use at all.”

Lawrence said the district doesn’t “have any transgender athletes that are participating” in any sports.

“This is an urban school system, a large urban school system. You don’t typically see those things in large urban school systems as you … study the country,” Lawrence said. “You typically see them in suburban and rural districts, of which we’re neither. So I don’t even know why the investigative journalist came here. Probably should have went to Centerville, Vandalia, somewhere else other than here.”

Accuracy in Media is standing by its conclusions.

“The statement from the district should cause all Dayton parents to be very concerned, especially since this isn’t the first time Dayton staffers have been caught on hidden cameras,” Guillette told Ohio.News in a statement. “It’s now abundantly clear that these aren’t just a few bad apples, but rather that this is a radicalized school district that prioritizes ideology over the safety of students. If the district truly cared about protecting girls, they would have asked us for the full video. That never happened.”