The Virginia school district where football coach Travis Turner disappeared as he faces child sex charges has known about his alleged behavior for “so many years” — but did nothing to stop it, angry parents said at a school board meeting this week.
Parents accused the Wise County Board of Education of a “lack of privacy” about Turner’s ongoing case Tuesday, saying its leaders willfully ignored the situation and others like it.
“I just want to make sure nobody thinks we’re going to sweep this under the rug like it’s been going on for so many years,” parent Stephen Murray told WJHL after the meeting, the third since Turner disappeared in November.
“I want to keep reminding the citizens of this region that there has been a lot of abuse and we need to continue to shine a light on it until something changes,” he said.
Turner, 46, a father of three, disappeared shortly before Thanksgiving when police called to his home near Big Stone Gap to investigate him for alleged child sex and child solicitation.
The longtime coach was a pillar of the small-town soccer-loving community, but he was charged with shocking child sex charges days later and has not been seen since.
And he was the latest teacher at the small Wise County school — which serves just 5,500 students — to be charged with child sex, with three others accused and two convicted since 2020.
They include Dalton Middle and High School band teacher Matthew Bates, who was convicted after he bragged about sending pictures of his students to other pedo students in 2020, and another Turner’s Union High coach, Timothy Lee Meador, who was convicted of child molestation and indecent exposure.
A teacher was even accused as recently as August – Tyler Jay Tibbs, a middle school teacher accused of sleeping with a child between the ages of 13 and 15.
And parents refuse to let go of the issue — Murray attends every Board of Education meeting since Turner has disappeared and allowed his members to have them.
“This is the third meeting I’m having in a row, and I want to continue to put pressure on,” said Murray, who was one of three who expressed similar concerns at Tuesday’s meeting.
“I think it’s more important now than ever for them to understand that the community is suffering and the community wants change,” said Murray. “I hope they listen. I think this is just the beginning, and the school board should, you know, get used to seeing these faces.”
The search for Turner is still ongoing nearly three months later, with no sign of him since.
He was last seen walking in the Appalachian woods behind his home the day he went missing – armed with a gun.
Turner’s family maintains that he is innocent of the charges.
But a man who claims to be the grandfather of a girl allegedly abused by Turner spoke at the last board meeting and said he admired her courage for coming forward with her allegations.
The Wise County Board of Education did not respond to a request for comment.
