A school board candidate was escorted out of State High, then quietly parted ways with PAC
A State College school board candidate entered State High without authorization and was escorted out by security last month, a school board member said. It happened days before the United 4 SCASD slate she was part of removed her from its website.
Superintendent Curtis Johnson sent school board members a security video of two people entering State High at 5:30 p.m. April 10 and asked for help identifying them, board member Peter Buck said. In an email to the board, Johnson said the pair walked to the library and photographed books before a staff member called security. In the video, a man and woman can be seen entering the building’s back entrance.
School doors were unlocked for after-school tutoring, which was held in the library at the time, according to Johnson’s email.
From the video, Buck said another board member identified them as Megan and Ken Layng, noting that Megan was a school board candidate.
Layng’s husband Ken is the advisor to Penn State student group Uncensored America, which came under fire last fall for inviting Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes to speak at Penn State.
Megan Layng had been a member of the United 4 SCASD political action committee, alongside Michelle Young, Barry Fenchak, Nathan Bish and John Krajcovic. By April 13, any mention of Layng was removed from the United 4 SCASD website and later press releases.
In an email Tuesday, Layng declined to address the State High incident or the reason she’s no longer part of United 4 SCASD.
“I continue to have a positive relationship with all the members of the United for SCASD slate and would be happy to serve alongside any of them,” Layng wrote in an email to the CDT.
Following the incident, the district stationed extra security at the school after hours. In a statement to the Centre Daily Times, the district wrote that two people entered without permission and were escorted out by security.
The statement did not identify the couple.
“After our investigation, with the assistance of our high school school resource officer, we do not believe that the individuals entered with any violent intent and/or with an intent to harm any student, staff member or others,” Chris Rosenblum, a spokesperson for the district, wrote.
United 4 SCASD has not offered a public explanation for why Layng is no longer part of the slate.
“The United for SCASD team has no first hand knowledge of any such incident at State High and therefore has no additional comments,” the group wrote in an email to the CDT.
The primary election is May 16.