Coweta Schools Corrects Earlier Statement After Finding Tim Ryan Emails

The Coweta County School System has corrected a portion of its previous public statements regarding former Coweta teacher and recent Coweta County Commission candidate Tim Ryan, acknowledging that emails Ryan previously produced were located after a more extensive search of archived electronic records.

In a statement provided to The Citizen, Coweta Schools Public Information Officer Dean Jackson said the district’s information technology department located copies of disputed May 3 and May 5, 2022, emails after conducting what he described as “a much lengthier search of old electronic records.”

“Because this has remained a persistent issue, our school system undertook a lengthy electronic records search following June 11th,” Jackson wrote. “The search found a record from 2022 of the May 3rd and 5th emails, as well as the similar May 4th and 5th emails which were found in our initial search.”

Jackson added that the district wanted to publicly correct its earlier statements.

“Because that portion of the story received coverage last week as well, I need to correct the record to note that the emails produced in paper copy by Mr. Ryan have been identified in the electronic record upon a deeper search and appear to be valid.”

The correction follows The Citizen’s June 11 reporting on a campaign video released by Ryan, who at the time was a Republican candidate for Coweta County Commission District 3. In that video, Ryan argued Coweta Schools had been aware of his previous employment with Atlanta Public Schools before hiring him as a teacher in 2022, pointing to a May 3, 2022, email he sent to a district certification specialist.

At the time, Jackson told The Citizen that district employees could not locate the May 3 email in their available records. The district instead located a similar May 4 email and questioned whether the email Ryan displayed matched its records.

Jackson now says the initial response was based on the records immediately available to the employee and the district.

“Our employee responded honestly and did not have a record of those emails in her account, despite a search of her 2022 emails, deletion folders, and other accessible folders,” Jackson wrote. “The employee provided us with the 2022 records available to her within the short timeframe of a media response, and we provided those to the press in full on June 11th.”

He added, “Our school system owes it to the community to make the clearest statements of facts available to us. I regret the misstatement, which was based upon the records available at that time.”

District says underlying timeline remains unchanged

Jackson emphasized that finding the emails does not change the school system’s position regarding Ryan’s hiring or the events previously outlined by Superintendent Evan Horton.

On June 3, Horton publicly stated that Ryan omitted his employment with Atlanta Public Schools from both his résumé and his March 2022 application for a teaching position with the Coweta County School System. Horton said that omission prevented district officials from knowing Ryan had worked for APS or from learning about an investigation into his conduct there before he was hired.

According to Jackson, the newly located emails do not alter that chronology because they were sent approximately two months after Ryan had already applied, interviewed, completed background checks, and been hired.

Jackson also said the emails were sent to a certification specialist who was not involved in Ryan’s hiring process.

“The underlying facts of Mr. Ryan’s omission of his Atlanta employment and the investigation at that school are correct and are not in dispute,” Jackson wrote. “Our school system was unaware of Mr. Ryan’s APS records and experience because of his omission. Mr. Ryan’s emails on May 3rd and May 4th, 2022 do not contradict these facts.”

Ryan’s campaign had argued the emails demonstrated Coweta Schools knew of his Atlanta employment. The school system maintains the emails, while now confirmed to exist, do not establish that hiring officials were aware of that employment when Ryan was hired.

Ryan lost last week’s Republican runoff election for the Coweta County Commission District 3 seat.r