School board member resigns over lewd text messages
Columbus School Board member Dominic Paretti resigned from the board and from his job as a legislative aide at the Ohio House of Representatives on Friday after sexual harassment complaints were filed against him by two female House colleagues.
The women recently came forward and lodged complaints accusing Paretti, a veteran House Democratic staffer and current aide for Rep. Janine Boyd, D-Cleveland Heights, of sending them lewd, graphic text messages late at night on two different weekends.
Paretti, 36, a legislative aide in recent years and a policy advisor during the 2009-10 session when Democrats briefly took control of the House, resigned Friday in a one-sentence letter after he was confronted about the accusations by majority caucus staff members.
Messages seeking comment were left with Paretti.
His resignation from the school board comes about 18 hours after Paretti joined the rest of the board in a unanimous vote to name Talisa Dixon, of Cleveland Heights, as the new school superintendent
“I am just really shocked,” Boyd said. “My heart is broken for a lot of reasons. I will do whatever I can to support those women. I don’t know a woman who hasn’t been the receiving end of unwanted experiences.”
Not long after resigning from the House, Paretti submitted his resignation to the Columbus Board of Education.
“No reason was specified in his letter of resignation, and there are no indications of any concerns related to his service in the District,” said Board President Gary Baker.
The Dispatch obtained screenshots of texts Paretti allegedly sent to a female House staffer at 1:32 a.m. on a Saturday in August. The text chain starts by asking “You up” and then goes through a series of about 20 short, mostly sexually graphic statements, many referring to his genitalia.
At 8:11 a.m. that same morning, Paretti, a member of the Columbus Board of Education since 2014, allegedly texted her: “Jesus, my cousin had my phone all evening and did this to a few people. I am so sorry, I’m at a bachelor party this weekend.”
He followed that up with: “Seriously so sorry. I’m so (bleeping) upset w his dumb ass. He did this to me and my brother and a friend to several people.”
After the complaints were filed, Paretti admitted that he was actually the one who sent the lewd texts, according to a Statehouse source with knowledge of that conversation.
A series of sexually explicit text messages sent to another young female staff member in June was similar in nature. As with the other woman, he followed up with her in the morning.
“I’m sorry for texting you that last night,” Paretti wrote. Then two hours later, he followed with, “I really am sorry and was so drunk I don’t remember doing it and I’m mortified and embarrassed and so sorry.”
Later that evening, he texted her again, “Please don’t hate me forever, I’m so sorry.”
Paretti was chairman of the board’s Finance and Appropriations Committee, which provides guidance on spending and financial matters.
While the board must take action to accept the resignation, “his letter indicates that his resignation takes effect immediately,” Baker said.
In the past, the board has asked district residents to apply to fill board vacancies, and Baker anticipates it will again follow that process, he said.
In November, Paretti was one of three board incumbents re-elected to four-year terms expiring in 2022, after fending off a challenge from the Yes We Can wing of the local Democratic party. Paretti came in third for the three-seat “field race.”
Paretti, of German Village, was first elected in November 2013 in the wake of the district’s data scandal, when incumbents Mike Wiles and Hanifah Kambon each lost their re-election bids, and former board President Carol Perkins resigned, opening up the race to the political newcomer.
Paretti said at the time that he had stumbled into politics: He attended community college intent on working in the technical side of TV journalism but moved to the University of Cincinnati, at first majoring in anthropology, he said. When a fellow student got an internship at the Cincinnati mayor’s office, he also applied.