The Mercer County School District Board of Education declined comment and took no action following the arrest of its superintendent and two other district employees on Wednesday.
Following Wednesday’s regularly scheduled school board meeting, board president Bill Smock declined comment on the matter, but confirmed there was no update on superintendent Tim Farquer, Amberly Norton or Andrea Long’s status in the district.
According to a joint press release from the Aledo Police Department and Mercer County State’s Attorney Grace Simpson, all three were arrested on Wednesday following an investigation by Aledo Police into a complaint accusing Mercer County School District employees of illegally accessing students’ medical records. Through the investigation, the Aledo Police Department obtained a search warrant for Mercer County High School in Aledo and the Mercer County School District Unit Office in Joy, where electronic devices were seized as evidence.
Norton, Long and Farquer are each charged with a Class A misdemeanor of unauthorized access to medical records, a Class A misdemeanor of computer tampering and a Class 3 felony of official misconduct.
Norton and Long work in technological support for the school district.