WARRENTON — A former kindergarten teacher has filed a $1.3 million lawsuit against a candidate running for a seat on the Warrenton-Hammond School Board.

Laura Phelps, a former Warrenton Grade School teacher, is suing Mandi Simonsen. The lawsuit was filed April 21, about 10 days before ballots were mailed out for the May 20 election, where more than a dozen candidates — including Simonsen — are vying for four positions on the school board.

Over the last few years, Simonsen has voiced concerns regarding student safety and staff behavior in the district. During her candidacy for the school board, she’s listed supporting students and teachers and increasing opportunities for parental involvement as priorities. Simonsen’s sister-in-law, Mindy Little, is also running for an open seat on the school board. Little was dismissed from her role as Warrior Academy principal in February following an investigation into complaints filed against her by district staff, including Phelps. Little has denied allegations of misconduct.

Lawsuit

Phelps was a teacher at the Warrenton-Hammond School District from 2016 to 2024. She resigned in August 2024 and began substitute teaching in October.

According to the lawsuit, Simonsen was the parent of a student in Phelps’ kindergarten class in 2023. The lawsuit alleges that Simonsen placed a recording device in her child’s backpack on two occasions in November 2023 and instructed her child to place the backpack near Phelps’ desk.

Simonsen confirmed that she placed a recording device in her child’s bag, but denies that she ever coached her child about it. She told The Astorian that she did so in response to questions and concerns about her child’s safety that she felt had not been sufficiently addressed by district staff.

“I wanted to get answers,” Simonsen said. “I wanted to get answers from the school board, the school, from the principal, the vice principal, the superintendent. Nobody was giving me answers.”

The lawsuit goes on to allege that Simonsen publicly posted edited portions of the recordings she had secretly made in Phelps’ classroom to Facebook in March 2024, inspiring some of Simonsen’s followers to send Phelps “abusive messages.” Simonsen allegedly also made public Facebook posts a few weeks later, one accusing Phelps of “mentally abusing” the children at the grade school and another including allegations she had sent to the superintendent of “a teacher snuggling on a kid in the cafeteria.”

Over the same month, Phelps learned that an unnamed party had filed a formal complaint against her for failing to comply with state rules regarding appropriate adult boundaries with students. In April, the district found the complaint “partially substantiated,” stating that “full hugs, kissing their head, and saying ‘I love you’” to children was a violation of boundaries. The school did not take any disciplinary action, but did offer suggestions for improvement, according to Phelps’ lawsuit.

In May 2024, Simonsen sent an email to school board members and the superintendent, criticizing them for keeping Phelps employed and alleging that they had a sex offender teaching kindergarteners, according to the lawsuit. Phelps has never been convicted of a sex offense. She responded by serving a cease and desist letter to Simonsen.

In November 2024, the complaint alleges that Simonsen made a Facebook post asking if parents had heard of a “safe” or “snuggle” bed used to snuggle with students. A few days later, Simonsen made another post on Facebook, alleging that Phelps had snuggled with her daughter in the classroom’s reading nook and comparing Phelps to the “Warrenton candyman,” who was convicted of multiple sexual offenses.

In the post, Simonsen allegedly included a photo that she had taken at the school, picturing Phelps hugging a child. Later that day, the mother of the photographed child responded to the post “with outrage, observing that Defendant was ‘a bully’ for exploiting a situation where her child needed compassion and Plaintiff gave it,” according to the lawsuit. Simonsen later received a letter from the school that the parent’s allegations that she had taken a photo without permission had been substantiated, and she was given an official warning, the complaint states. Simonsen told The Astorian that the faces in the photo were blurred out, and both the teacher and student were not identifiable.

The day after the post was made, Phelps was informed that someone had reported her to the Department of Human Services and that her ability to substitute teach was temporarily suspended.

“Although she was initially suspended from substitute teaching because of a third party’s claim that there was a DHS investigation, Ms. Phelps was never approached by DHS and it appears that if a complaint was made, it was closed at screening,” Matthew J. Steven, Phelps’ attorney, told The Astorian in a statement.

On Dec. 3, 2024, Simonsen allegedly posted a news article of her own creation to Facebook, characterizing the reading nook in Phelps’ classroom as a “teacher-student snuggle bed.” According to the lawsuit, Phelps received notice about a month later from the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission — which licenses teachers in Oregon — that it had received a complaint against her of possible misconduct.

The lawsuit states that on Jan. 14, Simonsen created a petition on Change.org in which she made several allegations, including that the school had “a kindergarten teacher allegedly emotionally manipulating students by calling her a ‘special friend’ and cuddling with children on a classroom bed.”

“It is unclear whether Mandi Simonsen concocted the reading loft libel story on her own, but it is clear that she enthusiastically spread it on social media and elsewhere,” Steven told The Astorian. “In reality, the reading loft was out in the open, used only by students, not used by Ms. Phelps or any other adult, and was located near the classroom door which remained open most of the day.”

Impacts

Phelps still has her teaching license, but is not seeking to resume working at this time, Steven said. Phelps’ lawsuit alleges that Simonsen’s actions resulted in the loss of earnings, her career and the ability to secure employment. It also alleges that Simonsen’s actions resulted in “pain, mental suffering, emotional distress, humiliation, injury to reputation, loss of care, comfort, companionship and society, loss of consortium, inconvenience and interference with normal and usual activities apart from gainful employment.”

Phelps is suing for alleged defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, intentional interference with economic relations and invasion of privacy. She is seeking $304,474.35 in economic damages and $1 million in noneconomic damages, according to the lawsuit.

“Ms. Laura Phelps is filing this lawsuit because she wants her reputation and her beloved career back,” Steven wrote. “Ms. Phelps was an engaged, kindhearted, and dedicated kindergarten teacher in the Warrenton Hammond School District for eight years. She skillfully helped hundreds of kids transition into that often-difficult first year of school life and was well-respected in the community.”

Simonsen said she posted her concerns on Facebook because they had not been addressed through formal complaints, adding that she does not recall ever naming Phelps in her posts, except in official documents. She said she feels the timing of the lawsuit with the school board election is targeted, and that administrative and student safety issues she’s raised are part of her motivation for running for the board.

“I want to do the right thing,” Simonsen said. “I’m here for the kids and the teachers that want to be good teachers.”