Port Angeles School Board censures director

Published 12:10 pm Friday, June 19, 2026

PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles School Board censured a fellow director, accusing her of breaching the confidentiality of a closed-door executive session.

The board passed a resolution 4-1 Thursday night, saying Nancy Hamilton detailed portions of an executive session in a June 11 letter to the board and disputing statements she made at a May 21 board meeting.

Board President Sandy Long and directors Ned Hammar, Kirsten Williams and Stan Williams voted yes while Hamilton cast the lone no vote.

The resolution does not strip Hamilton of any of her powers as an elected board member and imposes no formal penalty.

Disclosing information from the executive session exposed the school district to legal liability because, under state law, participants are prohibited from sharing what is discussed in those circumstances, according to the resolution. Hamilton’s actions breached attorney-client privilege because district counsel was present, the resolution said.

Hamilton said the board had invoked the executive session under the guise of potential litigation when the real purpose was “to discredit me and my work.”

The resolution said Hamilton’s 17 emails to Superintendent Michelle Olsen between December and May seeking records and detailed information on district operations was not just an unreasonable burden on staff time, but that no director has the independent authority to direct such a request to the superintendent or staff.

One of Hamilton’s emails contained 56 separate requests across seven attachments, the resolution said.

The resolution also accused Hamilton of implying, without factual basis, that a previous board had not conducted business in public, that fellow members did not represent the community and that Olsen was not trusted in the community and had a reputation for “retribution” against complainants.

After the eight-page resolution was read into the record, Hamilton defended her work, saying she was doing “the job that people elected me to do.”

She told the board that passing the resolution would “hinder my core duties and diminish my capacity to serve” and that it violated state law and the Open Public Meetings Act.

“I have a right to make those inquiries, as all of us do on this board,” she said, calling the resolution “an attack on anyone who asks questions about how our schools are being run.”

Those matters, she said, are the board’s responsibility to understand in order to make informed decisions about how it performs its work.

“I have a fiduciary and legal duty to the district,” she said. “This is one I take very seriously.”

Hammar, who, like Hamilton, was elected last November, said he reluctantly supported the resolution.

“I am so sad that we have arrived at this place,” Hammar said, adding that he hoped “with the clarity that this resolution provides, we can get on with the work of the board.”

After a five-minute recess, Hamilton moved to indefinitely table the resolution, but the motion failed and the board adopted the censure resolution.

The board broke for five minutes again as many people in the audience left the room and shouted “Shame!” as they left.

More than 50 people who supported Hamilton attended the meeting. During public comment, censorship was a recurring theme among those who spoke, arguing the resolution amounted to silencing her.

Several speakers also disputed the accuracy of the resolution, saying they had reviewed video of the May 21 meeting and could not find Hamilton making the statements attributed to her. Multiple speakers said Hamilton was doing exactly what the community had asked her to do, and others said the resolution ran counter to democracy, warning it could have a chilling effect on future board members and constituents who might otherwise speak up.

Later in the meeting, Hamilton’s motion to postpone a vote on Olsen’s 2026-2029 contract until the board’s July 23 meeting failed 4-1.

Hamilton objected to a section of the contract, nearly identical to language in the censure resolution, allowing the superintendent to forward “voluminous, complex, and/or repetitive” board member requests to the board president instead of responding directly.

She said the contract included “restrictive language about the board member’s right to ask questions” and argued that governing rules belonged in board policy rather than an individual employee’s contract, and that the section conflicted with the state Public Records Act.

Later, Long said the board felt compelled to act in order to separate itself and the district from possible legal action linked to Hamilton’s accusations and conduct, particularly breaching the confidentiality of an executive session.

“This is all about the law,” Long said. “I don’t want the public to think that I said that or would ever do that.”

Long said the board had a great deal of work to catch up on this summer, with two workshops and a board meeting planned in July to continue its strategic planning work.

“We just need to start over again,” Long said. “I think Nancy wants to do that and the other board members want to do it. We all want to get by this.”

Hamilton said Friday she was still processing the censure resolution, which she and the other board members did not receive until Monday evening. She said three days was not enough time for either her or the community to review it.

She also questioned the resolution’s legality and denied all of the allegations it contained.

“It’s hard when you’re literally having an eight-page document blatantly saying things that aren’t true,” she said.

“I have every confidence that I had done nothing improper.”

Hamilton said the censure limits her ability to ask questions and gather information to make decisions, and it undermines her ability to serve as an independent voice on the board.

“This is wrong,” she said.

Nonetheless, she said she would continue to work on behalf of the district, schools and students.

“I will do my duty as I have always done,” Hamilton said. “I will not deflect from what I took an oath to do.”

Music education

For the fifth year in a row, the Port Angeles School District was selected as a Best Community for Music Education by the NAMM Foundation, the charitable arm of the National Association of Music Merchants. It was one of three districts in the state — along with Snohomish and Snoqualmie — to win the award.

Vicki Helwick, who has applied for the award on the district’s behalf for five years running, said the qualities the foundation evaluates include district support, instructional time, participation rates, facilities and community support.

Lunt resigns

Port Angeles High School principal Jeff Lunt has resigned to become the K-12 principal for the Crescent School District.

The Port Angeles School Board will appoint an interim principal to replace Lunt for the 2026-27 academic year.

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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.