Parents brought their pitchforks to the first meeting of the Wise County School Board to include public comment since high school football coach Travis Turner went missing in November.
Turner, the former head football coach at Union High School in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, disappeared on November 20, 2025, and days later was charged with five counts of child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor.
One mother who spoke at the Monday, January 12, meeting expressed “deep disappointment in the silence, the closed door decisions and the lack of accountability from the people taxed with protecting our children,” in video taken by News Channel 11.
In 2023, former Union High teacher Timothy Lee Meador was indicted on three felony charges and pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent liberties with a child. Meador, now 28, served 15 months in prison and was banned from school premises.
The use of K-9 units might be the key to finally finding missing Union High School football coach Travis Turner, who disappeared over two weeks ago. “As the body decays, the scent is just going to intensify and make it easier for cadaver dogs to find any remains,” retired law enforcement veteran and criminology professor […]
Wise County parent Stephen Murray told News Channel 11 outside the meeting that the pattern was “shocking.”
“I really couldn’t tell you other than it’s just a culture of we sweep things under the rug and hopefully we just bury things and no one talks about it,” Murray said.
Murray specifically called out Wise County superintendent Mike Goforth, suggesting it was time he vacated his position.
“If you look at the pattern of behavior and the time frame this has all happened, [Goforth] has been at some form of leadership,” Murray said. “At some point somebody has to be able to take accountability and be like, ‘You know, I’ve been at the helm for this long and I can’t stop this abuse from happening so maybe I should step down.’”
According to News Channel 11, another commenter at the meeting “laid out a 14-step plan for the board on how to ensure child predators are not hired and kept employed by the Wise County school system.”
The school board said it would not address the comments and concerns raised at Monday night’s meeting until the next school board meeting in February.
The meeting on Monday night followed a school board gathering in December, during which public comment was not allowed.
Turner was last seen by members of his family walking into the woods behind his home while carrying a rifle, according to a statement from the family’s attorney, Adrian Collins, provided to Us Weekly in December.
Missing high school football coach Travis Turner may not have executed his disappearance alone, according to a former detective. Turner, 46, suddenly vanished from his rural Virginia home on November 20, as agents from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation were on their way to his residence to question the coach. Days later, Turner was charged […]
At the time he disappeared, authorities were making their way to Turner’s home to question him about an open investigation.
The day after he went missing Wise County Public Schools that an unnamed staff member had been placed on administrative leave.
“At this time, a staff member has been placed on administrative leave with pay while an external agency reviews an allegation that was reported to us,” the district said in a statement. “This is standard procedure and not a determination of wrongdoing. The division cannot comment further.”
When contacted by Us Weekly on Monday, the Virginia State Police said there are no updates to share about the investigation into Turner’s disappearance.
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