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WS/FCS Superintendent McManus requests Supreme Maintenance Organization make immediate changes to employee hiring and background check processes

On Wednesday, Charles Holland, 24, an employee of Supreme Maintenance Organization (SMO), was charged with a felony count of indecent exposure were the defendant is over 18 years old and the victim is less than 16 years old. Authorities say Holland intentionally exposed his genitalia while on school property at Lewisville Middle School.

Holland is currently confined to the Forsyth County Law Enforcement Detention Center and was scheduled to appear in court Friday.

As the investigation continues, it has come to the attention of WS/FCS that Holland has a prior conviction that should have made him ineligible to serve as a contractor within a WS/FCS facility. In a statement SMO said, “We know this incident has violated the trust of school leaders, parents, teachers and students and we are very sorry this happened to these students at Lewisville Middle School.”

WS/FCS Superintendent Tricia McManus has immediately ordered that SMO do complete and thorough background checks of all the more than 100 contracted employees.

“This is unacceptable. We put our faith in an organization that to date has provided us with good service. Their employees provide a valuable service to our schools by serving as custodians. A gap in SMO’s procedures, however, put an individual in a position that was not safe for students. I will not tolerate that.

“I have informed SMO that an immediate audit of all other employees must happen now. They must also make immediate changes to their internal processes so this never happens again. If they do not, we will pursue termination of their contract for services. Any individuals that do not meet our standards will be relieved of their duties in our facilities, immediately,” McManus said.

McManus went on to say, “We pride ourselves on providing safe places for children to learn. We want to ensure parents that we are doing an immediate internal audit of all our contractors. We will do everything possible to make sure other individuals working for contracted, outside entities, follow the district’s strict expectations, before working inside a school. If they do not, they will be asked to leave our facilities, immediately.

“I want parents to know as soon as this allegation was brought to our attention, Lewisville Middle administration did everything possible to keep students safe. Within minutes of being made aware, school staff removed the employee and alerted law enforcement.”

State law requires that certain criminal offenses occurring on school property be immediately reported to law enforcement. Once that report is made, WS/FCS must allow law enforcement to lead and conduct the investigation. The district is limited in what information it can immediately share with parents. WS/FCS cannot impede an investigation by releasing critical details, until after law enforcement partners finish their investigation and share the results of their findings. As always, WS/FCS alerted parents of the incident with as much detail as possible, as soon as possible.

SMO provides cleaning services on a contract basis to WS/FCS facilities. Per the contract with WS/FCS, SMO is responsible for vetting and managing its employees. SMO is required to provide accurate background checks in compliance with district standards.