UPDATED: Longview superintendent arrested, charged with witness tampering
Longview School District Superintendent Karen Cloninger was arrested around 9:26 a.m. Thursday on charges of tampering with a witness, failure to report and obstructing a law enforcement officer, the Longview Police Department announced.
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Police also intend to charge Andrew Schoonover, the district's executive director of student services, with failure to report and making a false or misleading statement to a public servant, the announcement stated.
All charges are gross misdemeanors except tampering with a witness, which is a felony.
Cloninger was expected to have her first appearance at the Cowlitz County Courthouse at 1 p.m. Friday, too late for deadline.
Karen Cloninger
Karen Cloninger
The Longview School Board held an emergency meeting Thursday afternoon, where it voted to place Cloninger on administrative leave and appointed Executive Director of Business Services Patti Bowen acting superintendent until further notice.
The accusations
Detectives allege that Mark Morris High School staff and district officials were made aware of possible sexual misconduct involving students as early as Jan. 29, and that Cloninger specifically was made aware of details involving multiple students.
When police contacted Cloninger on Feb. 5 to ask whether the district needed assistance, she said the matter had been handled internally, according to the announcement.
The probable cause statement alleges that employees raised concerns about the district's mandatory reporting requirements, but Cloninger directed them to handle the matter internally and discourage discussion.
The Daily News previously reported that district officials did not file a police report while investigating accusations that several Mark Morris students sexually assaulted their peers.
School employees are mandatory reporters, meaning state law requires them to report such suspicions.
The accused students include two teens who were arrested Feb. 19 and charged with second-degree rape.
The announcement stated that the Longview Police Department and the city of Longview will not be responding to media inquiries at this time because of the active investigation.
Details revealed
According to the arrest document, Cloninger received Title IX documents on Jan. 29 and on Feb. 2 associated with the suspension of students that included the information about one of the victims being forcibly dragged into the Mark Morris High School varsity team room.
She allegedly withheld that information from law enforcement for over a month, despite being served with a search warrant, according to the document.
The primary investigators for the internal report were Mark Morris High School Principal Aaron Thomas Whitright and Assistant Principal Charles Paul Beckel, who forwarded the details to Cloninger and asked about mandatory reporting - even asking whether they should alert law enforcement and possibly the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
That happened on more than one occasion, but they were told no, and instead told to handle things quietly and in-house, according to the arrest document.
During a meeting after district spokesperson Rick Parrish opined they should contact the school district's attorney, Cloninger reportedly told him to stand down and then called him back, asking that the call be placed on speaker, so that the other people in the room, including Beckel and Whitright, could hear her say:
"We're not calling any attorney, because I'm not going to be told to do something I don't want to do." She followed that with, "Look guys, at this point social media has already got rumors going. Tell the kids on the team we don't want any more rumors, don't talk about this."
In another speaker call, Cloninger admonished staff not to
"put anything in writing on this," and then directed Beckel and Whitright to tell the parents involved that they had done investigated the matter and had taken "appropriate disciplinary steps," the document states.
The document says she admonished the principal that he'd "better figure this out," because the situation is a "career-killer."
In reaction, Parrish reportedly told the police that Whitright stood up and kicked the desk out of frustration.
Parrish had reportedly told Cloninger that hazing at the school could be systemic, according to the arrest document. The statement "visibly frustrated" Cloninger, who then lectured him on the definition of systemic.
Cloninger told him what occurred was not hazing, saying, "I don't want you using that word."
Both Beckel and Parrish are listed as victims in the arrest document.
Reaction at the school district
School board President Don Wiitala wrote in an email that the board is committed to understanding the facts and letting the investigative process work.
"We still have a school year to complete and to plan for next year," he wrote. "We need, and have, the support of the entire district to see that happen."
Bowen wrote in a statement sent out Thursday evening that the district remains committed to cooperating with the investigation, following the law and taking appropriate action.
"As a school district, we take our responsibility to protect the safety and care of our students very seriously," she wrote. "The allegations described by law enforcement are serious and troubling."
She added that the district would not be providing other comment because of the ongoing investigation.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comments from the Longview School Board and Longview School District.
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This story was originally published May 23, 2026 at 4:20 AM.