Longview Public Schools Superintendent Karen Cloninger formally pleaded not guilty Wednesday to three charges associated with obstructing an investigation into sexual assault at Mark Morris High School.

Her arraignment is the latest development in a larger investigation into allegations of assault at the school. Players on the school’s varsity basketball team have been accused of dragging younger players into a school locker room and allegedly harassing or sexually assaulting them.

Those allegations and their handling by the district’s school board and superintendent have caused turmoil in the Mark Morris community and beyond. They were made public in early February when students walked out of class in protest. Since then, parents have repeatedly asked why the district and its leaders did not report the alleged abuse to police until after that student walkout.

Cloninger is accused of obstructing an investigation into those allegations. She faces one felony charge of tampering with a witness, and two gross misdemeanor charges: failure to report and obstructing a law enforcement officer.

Cloninger and her attorney, Jon McMullen, attended Wednesday’s arraignment from a small courtroom in the Cowlitz County Jail. Judge Michael Evans set a trial date for Oct. 19.

“We entered a plea of not guilty today,” McMullen said outside the courtroom. “That is the first part of fighting these charges.”

He said it was too early in the case to talk about details, and Cloninger declined to comment.

Cloninger was arrested on May 21. A May 22 Longview police document outlining the probable cause leading to her arrest listed the details in the case.

In early February, district staff brought up the allegations and their duties as mandatory reporters to Cloninger, the document said. The superintendent told them to handle the incidents internally and tell community members to stop spreading rumors, it continued.

“Karen stifled multiple employees from doing the right thing and reporting to law enforcement and told them to stand down, their behavior was off-putting, and that if they didn’t handle things ‘right’ their careers could be over. Karen specifically withheld information from law enforcement for over a month, despite being served with a search warrant that had been signed by a judge,” states the probable cause document authored by Longview Police Detective Trevyn DeLapp.

A separate trial of two teens accused of assault is ongoing. OPB is not naming the teens since they are minors. Both pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree rape, unlawful imprisonment with sexual motivation, indecent liberties with forcible compulsion, and indecent exposure, according to court documents.

The Longview School Board voted on Monday to put Cloninger on unpaid leave. She had been on paid administrative leave.

Board members noted that Cloninger is “legally unable to perform the essential functions of her position” because of court-imposed conditions of her release from jail, which prohibit contact with students and some district staff members.

Besides Cloninger, four other members of the district have been on administrative leave since May 22. They include Andrew Schoonover, the executive director of student services.

The district’s executive director of business services, Patti Bowen, was appointed interim superintendent in late May.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/10/longview-mark-morris-superintenent-plea/