Newly minted Richfield Elementary School Principal Tara Kieser first met Daniel Ott Jr. on the second day of the 2024-25 school year in the hallway. He introduced himself as a volunteer and a “highly involved” parent whose child attended the school.
A few weeks later, before a Parent Teacher Association meeting, Ott allegedly threatened to “roast” Kieser in front of the PTA if she restricted parents’ access to the school, she said.
“(I) would hope the floor would drop out below me so I could just disappear because if he has to, he will humiliate me in front of people,” Kieser recalled Ott saying.
But Ott didn’t stop there, Kieser, of Cleveland, told Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams during an April 25 restraining order hearing.
His tone turned sexual, she said. He then went to the school in the Revere district despite being barred.
Then he requested her badge swipe schedule information, said Kieser, who accused him of stalking.
Collier-Williams granted her stalking order against Ott on April 25. It became effective on April 30 and will end in 2030.
Ott, who said during his testimony that he intends to run for the Revere school board, can pick up and drop off his daughter from the school, but he must stay 500 feet from Kieser. Ott cannot be in any building Kieser is in, the judge explained.
“(Ott) knowingly engaged in a pattern of conduct that caused petitioner to believe that the respondent has caused – will cause physical harm or cause mental distress,” Collier-Williams said, according to a transcript of the hearing.
Ott denied these allegations during the court hearing and accused the principal of intimidation and retaliation.
Confrontations continued throughout the school year
About two weeks after the 2024 PTA meeting, Kieser opened Ott’s car door to let his daughter out as it rained before school; he said he didn’t recognize her without a dress, she testified in court.
“I said, ‘Excuse me?’ thinking maybe I misunderstood what he said, and he said, ‘I expect to see you in a dress. I want to see you in a dress,'” Kieser testified on April 25.
A third incident occurred on Oct. 15 in the school hallway as Kieser walked a student to class. Kieser said Ott did not have a visitor badge, which is required of visitors per the district’s security policy.
“I’m glad to see you in a dress again,” Ott allegedly said.
“I said, ‘Excuse me?’ and he said, ‘I want to see your legs. I expect to see you in a dress,’” Kieser recalled, describing his tone as “very sexually intonated.”
In response, Kieser said she walked away and took the student to class.
The fourth alleged incident occurred during a February school board meeting. Kieser recalled it was freezing outside, so she wore a sweater, pants and a scarf that day.
“Where is your dress tonight?” she recalled Ott asking her. “I said, ‘Stop. It’s negative 15 degrees outside. Nobody in their right mind would be wearing a dress on a day like today.'”
Kieser described these incidents as “uncomfortable.” She said the encounters made her “skin crawl.”
Kieser detailed school district’s response
Kieser did not immediately report the alleged behavior to human resources, the assistant superintendent and Superintendent Dan White until the third alleged incident. At the time, school district administrators took no action, she said.
“They suggested that if it happened again, I ask him what his intent was and maybe suggest saying ‘stop saying that’ or let him know how it makes me feel,” Kieser testified.
When she brought her concerns to White again, Ott was barred from school property on March 18 without a 24-hour written notice from the superintendent. But Kieser said Ott violated this order.
Ott was seen on school property at least three times pushing his face against the office window until he was granted access to the vestibule, Kieser testified. Eventually, she took the matter to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, where she requested a stalking order.
In an emailed statement to the Beacon Journal, White said: “The safety and security of our students and staff is top priority. We abide by all court orders, and when we are made aware of new information regarding volunteers, we respond accordingly.”
Daniel Ott accuses principal of intimidation
Ott denied intimidating, stalking or sexually harassing Kieser, according to his testimony at the April 25 court hearing. Instead, he accused her of intimidation and retaliation for requesting her badge card swipe schedule.
“She’s using (the court hearing) to intimidate me, to stop public records requests, which actually, administrators have asked me to make these requests,” Ott testified.
He claimed former Richfield Elementary Principal Anthony Stretar, now the superintendent for Black River schools, and Richfield Elementary Vice Principal Bryan Petchse told him to make the requests.
“In no way did I put any parent ‘up to’ a public record request involving Mrs. Kieser,” Stretar said in an email. “I had great relationships with our PTA, Mr. Ott included. In my four years at Richfield, he was very dedicated and helped set up many events. Our PTA as a whole was incredible.”
Petchse was not immediately available for comment.
Parent denies sexual harassment accusations
Ott testified that Kieser wore inappropriate clothes to school, something he said many parents were concerned about.
“I am relieved when she’s not wearing a skirt,” Ott said. “This principal wears shorts, jeans, skorts, and skirts that are above the knee. Now, I’m an apostolic person, so I’m not going to be sexual in nature, especially to somebody that’s handling our education.”
Parents express concerns about a volunteer with a felony conviction
At a May 20 Revere Board of Education meeting, parents expressed concerns that a classroom volunteer was allowed at Richfield Elementary School despite having a third-degree felony conviction. This came roughly a month after Kieser’s attorney Maxwell Martin said Ott had a prior felony conviction.
Portage County court documents show Ott was sentenced in 2007 to three years in prison after he was found guilty of retaliation, a third-degree felony. This incident occurred after Ott called 911 in December 2006 when someone attacked him at an Applebee’s restaurant in Brimfield, according to a summary of facts from the Eleventh District Court of Appeals, which denied his request to overturn his conviction.
During the call, Ott suggested he was a police officer, so Brimfield police charged and arrested him with impersonating a police officer. In January, Ott began calling officers from the Brimfield Police Department, requesting they drop the charge.
Eventually, he spoke to the chief of police for 47 minutes, according to the summary of facts. Ott threatened to blackmail the chief of police, citing disputes with his ex-wife and current wife.
“I don’t screw around. When someone comes after me, I go after them ten times. And so, that’s why I have done a complete background check on you,” Ott was recorded saying in the phone call.
Ott first started volunteering when Stretar was principal. Stretar said he was told that Ott underwent a background check and was cleared to volunteer.
Bryce Buyakie covers courts and public safety for the Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @bryce_buyakie.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Richfield principal accuses parent, school board candidate of stalking
Read the full article here
