Lakota Board of Education President Lynda O’Connor went public earlier this week saying her former social media page saw its domain name expire in December without her knowledge and later was hacked with the addition of a link to a porn site.
Soon after O’Connor posted an explanation on her Facebook page and apologized for error.
“We were made aware our website was hacked at some point. The link was removed immediately after we were notified. After further investigation we now know the domain was lapsed as well. Please don’t go to the site as it appears to be a scam and phishing,” wrote O’Connor.
“My sincerest apologies for this and thank you again for making us aware of the issue with the website.”
O’Connor later told the Journal-News: “I was made aware of this on Sunday afternoon. Immediately after it was brought to my attention, I took action. The link was removed and notification was posted.”
Fellow board member Darbi Boddy, however, said a few days later the situation is similar enough to her own from last year to warrant a call for O’Connor’s resignation.
Boddy, who said the porn link in her own post stemmed from a typo last year, wrote on Facebook Wednesday: “by Lynda O’Connor’s own standards, she should be resigning. Because Lynda was not monitoring her website, she allowed pornography to be posted on her official school board Facebook page for two months.”
“She may not have wanted that to be on her website any more than I wanted pornography posted on mine. However, there was an emergency (school) board meeting called with a media blitz and every single board member demanded my resignation.”
“I demand a public explanation from each board member as to their position regarding this matter as it relates to resignation/disciplinary actions,” wrote Boddy.
But the other three board members said Thursday the scenarios are not analogous and currently there is no support for Boddy’s call for O’Connor to resign.
“While both links may have not been intentional Mrs. Boddy posted her link as opposed to Mrs. O’Connor’s domain expiring and having it purchased by someone else. The other difference is Mrs. O’Connor took immediate corrective action when alerted,” said member Kelley Casper.
Board colleague Julie Shaffer said: “I appreciate both perspectives. However, one board member posted the link themselves. The other board member did not. My name has also been purchased as a domain. I am concerned I may be the next target of others with ill intent.”
And member Isaac Adi, who campaigned on a joint ticket with Boddy in fall of 2021 but publicly distanced himself from her during their first year on the board in 2022, said there is no push beyond Boddy’s for O’Connor to resign.
“Anybody who logically believes in the truth – and wants the right things to happen in our school district and doesn’t have anything against anybody and is going to be rational – is not going to ask Lynda to resign,” said Adi.
“These situations are not the same. In my opinion Lynda is a victim,” he said.
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