School district policies drove a wedge between administrators and members of the public at Tuesday’s Slippery Rock school board meeting.

A few people attended the meeting to speak about the recent charges filed against Robert P. Willison, 51, an eighth-grade math teacher accused of touching four girls. Those attendees found only officials at the meeting refused to comment, according to a recording provided by a member of the public.

Addressing the charges before the public comment session, officials read the following statement: “Pertaining to the criminal charges which were filed against a teacher in our middle school, the district cannot provide any further comment or information because of these pending charges and related personal matters and student involvement, pursuant to board policy 6-1.”

Board officials also reminded participants of the limits on speaking during the public comment session, including a 30-minute total time limit and a five-minute per-resident restraint.

The board did not hear comments from people who don’t live within the district, including a Pittsburgh woman named Kelly Hiser who organized an open letter urging policy reform. Hiser’s letter has garnered about 130 signatures.

Hiser’s mother Mary Ann, however, does live in the district.

“I don’t know who was involved in the decision-making of allowing someone who was suspended twice for sexual harassment to continue to work directly with students, but I think that whoever was involved in that decision needs to do some soul searching about that,” Mary Ann said.

Mary Ann said she was alarmed to hear accusations in the district again, referencing former teacher Gerald Maxwell pleading guilty in 2005 to invading the privacy of female students by peering at them through a ceiling tile as they changed clothes.

Emilee Gustkey Waldo, a parent of a current student, referenced the district’s rules before she was told to stop talking, according to the audio recording.

“Your handbook states that teachers are supposed to ‘conduct themselves in a manner which places the highest esteem on human rights and dignity,’ yet you continued to employ a teacher who repeatedly debased that policy through his actions and his speech,” she said. “Mr. Willison was spending his time at work and our money sexually harassing co-workers and students.”

Lynda Snyder, a parent of a graduate, said she had reviewed the school’s policies and found only harassment policies protecting teachers from each other and children from each other.

“There is nothing that we have right now in our district to protect our children,” Snyder said.

Willison’s preliminary hearing is scheduled at 2:45 p.m. Nov. 28. at District Judge Bill O’Donnell’s courtroom in Slippery Rock.

Willison’s suspension for these charges is his third suspension related to sexual abuse or harassment complaints since 2012, according to police.