Members of the Wood County Board of Education met in special session Friday where they voted 4-0 to suspend Parkersburg South High School teacher Dwain Sponseller without pay. Sponseller was arraigned Thursday before Wood County Magistrate Jody Purkey on seven counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust. He was released on a $55,000 surety bond and is scheduled to be back in court April 3. Photo by Douglass Huxley

PARKERSBURG – The Wood County Board of Education voted 4-0 to suspend Parkersburg South High School teacher Dwain Sponseller Friday in special session.

Boardmember Sarah Townsend was unable to attend the meeting.

The board voted for a paid suspension of Sponseller for Feb. 29 and March 1 and an unpaid suspension beginning March 4, pending investigation.

Sponseller, 40, of Parkersburg, turned himself in to Parkersburg Police Thursday and was charged with seven counts of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust.

He was arraigned before Wood County Magistrate Jody Purkey and released on a $55,000 surety bond. Each charge carries a possible prison term of 10 to 20 years and a fine of between $500 and $5,000.

According to a press release from police, allegations against Sponseller occurred while he was working in his capacity as a basketball coach at Vandevender Middle School.

Sponseller was named in a lawsuit in 2014, while a coach for the PSHS freshman football team, that stated he instigated a fight between two players in 2010 and then did nothing to stop the altercation.

In a story from the Parkersburg News and Sentinel on July 18, 2014, allegations Sponseller favored certain players was made during the trial. Former PSHS vice principal Charles Crookshanks testified on the stand he was not aware of allegations that Sponseller texted certain players and played video games online with them. When Crookshanks was asked if it was appropriate for teachers and coaches to have contact with students that way, he said it is seen more in younger teachers.

“More and more with younger teachers they do not see this as not appropriate,” he testified. “I would prefer they be friendly and respectful with students but not a friend. That line is blurred with younger teachers.”

The story from 2014 said the superintendent at the time, John Flint, said in testimony he did not see anything that would have triggered the investigation outlined in school policy. He said the policy of bullying, harassment and intimidation called for the problem to be persistent and pervasive before an investigation would take place.

The jury ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and the district was forced to pay them $136,030. Jurors said they placed the percentage of fault as 30% on the Wood County Board of Education, 50% on Sponseller and 10% each on the students involved in the altercation.

The story from 2014 said attorney Jim Leach, who represented the plaintiffs, said he did not understand why the board of education refused to settle out of court. He said the board should have dealt with Sponseller at the time of the incident.

“I don’t understand why this case had to come this far,” he said in 2014. “It should have been dealt with years ago.”

Sponseller is scheduled to appear before Wood County Circuit Court Judge Robert Waters on April 2 at 3 p.m.