Majority of school board announces resignation after text messages exposed

GREENUP COUNTY, Ky. (WSAZ/Gray News) – Most of a school board in Kentucky resigned last week after an exchange of text messages that denigrated special needs students was exposed.

During a special meeting Friday of the Greenup County Board of Education, the chair and vice chair formally resigned. Two other board members said they are resigning soon.

Chair Mary Kay McGinnis-Ruark and vice chair Lance Warnock both resigned, effective immediately. McGinnis-Ruark was not present at the meeting.

Board members Sandy Mosser and Carl Cotton will resign when McGinnis-Ruark and Warnock are replaced.

With four of the five board members resigning, that leaves only Matt Tussey as the sole elected board member still standing. Tussey was elected as the new chair of the board during a school board meeting last Monday.

“It’s a lot. I wasn’t expecting to be chair this quick,” Tussey said. “I’m looking at a lot of guidance from people that’s done this job before me to try to help me. Got a lot of friends that’s been on the board, been in this position, and I’m trying to lean on them for guidance in helping us move the county forward.”

All of the resignations except for Cotton’s were announced during the board’s meeting on Nov. 12.

In that same meeting, Greenup County Schools Superintendent Traysea Moresea was demoted from her position.

Tussey said it will take about two to three weeks to replace McGinnis-Ruark and Warnock.

The shakeup in leadership comes after text messages between Moresea and board members were brought to light. Greenup County Board of Education attorney Jim Lyon called the texts “derogatory of special needs children in the district.”

Lyon said the text messages became public through the discovery process of a civil lawsuit filed by parents against Greenup Local Schools related to allegations of abuse in a special needs classroom.

The lawsuits and the indictments that came from them were previously covered by WSAZ in December 2024.

Jonathan Bond is a parent of a child with special needs in Greenup County. He said he started a Change.org petition to lead to the changes in leadership and said he wants to see more changes made.

“There were too many failures for the superintendent and the board to continue their in their positions,” Bond said. “The job of the board of education is to hold the superintendent accountable, and they didn’t.”

Tussey, who was first elected to the Board in November 2024, said he plans to move forward with the district’s work with his support system behind him.

“I believe there’s a lot of good going on in this school district right now that I don’t want to get overshadowed,” Tussey said. “We have some really good programs. Our schools are doing a lot of good things. [...] I don’t want to see that go backwards. I want to see us keep moving forward.”

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