Missouri Valley CSD Superintendent issues a statement on Oct. 9th volleyball game incident

News

October 15th, 2025 by Ric Hanson

(Missouri Valley, Iowa) – The Superintendent for the Missouri Valley Community School District took to social media early (this) Wednesday morning, to set the record straight, with regard to an incident that followed a volleyball game last Thursday night.
The statement from Superintendent Christi Gochenour said, in-part, “On Thursday, October 9, 2025 on a night that should have been a celebration for our seniors and a night dedicated to one of our students who is fighting cancer, our student cheering section decided to turn it into a spectacle by chanting a derogatory statement towards our High School Principal for the last point and towards our visiting team, while our volleyball girls shook hands and celebrated their win.”
Mrs. Gochenour said also, “To say I am disappointed in our student section behavior is an understatement. But in gathering information as to why they felt the need to chant the derogatory remarks toward Mr. McDonald for the final point, it has come to my attention that some students believed Mr. [Nate] McDonald ripped up a poster that was meant for our sick student, and THIS IS ABSOLUTELY FALSE. Mr. McDonald would NEVER do this and it is offensive that students would believe him to do it.”
She went on to list several facts pertaining to the incident, and said the are still working to determine the consequences of the student section’s behavior. She concluded by saying, “Our district motto, “Built on Pride, Destined for Greatness” was not demonstrated by our students at the end of this volleyball match. There was nothing to be proud of, and nothing about this incident was great.”
Here are the facts relating to the incident, according to the Superintendent:
Fact: A student set a poster out in the commons for students to write encouraging notes to our sick student.
Fact: Mr. McDonald was encouraged by some staff that he needed to remove the poster because the student did not get his permission first and we need to be careful of allowing students to do this.
Fact: Mr. McDonald came into my office after the conversation and asked me if I thought it was wrong. I asked him if he did and he said absolutely not. He said he wanted the kids to write notes to our student. I told him that it was his building and if wanted the students to sign the poster, then let them do it.
Fact: Mr. McDonald received an email from a student stating that there was a comment on the poster that was not very positive and may upset our sick student.
Fact: Mr. McDonald went to the poster and saw the comment and took the poster back to his office.
Fact: Mr. McDonald contacted the student who initially started the poster, explained to her why he took the poster, and told her she could start another one, but make sure to always get permission.
Mr. McDonald did not rip up the poster, and had always advocated for it. He was simply trying to protect our student and encouraged the student to get another one started.
On Monday I visited with the student who started the poster and she confirmed that Mr. McDonald never ripped up the poster.