Chapel Hill superintendent dropped protective order against student. What’s the latest?

Six months after facing criticism over alleged plagiarism in her doctoral dissertation, Nyah Hamlett, superintendent of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, obtained a no-contact order against a former student and his father.

The temporary order was granted after Hunter Klosty graduated from East Chapel Hill High School in June and confronted Hamlett and cursed at her, the school’s principal and other officials during the graduation ceremony.

The incident followed months of critical and often hostile comments from Hunter and his father, Kevin Klosty, about Hamlett and her administration over the last school year.

A court hearing was scheduled for Aug. 7 at the Orange County Courthouse to determine if Hamlett would be granted a permanent no-contact order banning the Klostys from posting about her on social media, stalking or harassing her, and barring them from Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools properties.

But days before the hearing, Hamlett voluntarily dismissed the effort.

Here’s what we know.

Who is Nyah Hamlett?

In 2020, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education picked Hamlett to be the next superintendent. She was selected from 36 candidates from 14 states.

She had more than 16 years of experience in Virginia schools and was chief of staff for Loudoun County Public Schools before she and her family moved to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area.

Hamlett has degrees from Old Dominion University and Regent University, both in Virginia. In 2019, she earned a doctorate in educational policy, planning and leadership from The College of William & Mary.

In January, Hamlett publicly defended her dissertation work after The News & Observer received a tip that the document contained “questionable credits and attributions.” Hamlett said she would have the manuscript reviewed and acknowledged that the “placements of some citations and some word choices to summarize or synthesize information could’ve been done differently.”

Hamlett received widespread support from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community, including members of the school board. Over 700 people signed a letter of support for her.

What did Hamlett allege?

Hamlett obtained the order against the Klostys after events she said caused her “extreme stress” and fear for her and her family’s life. She said the harassment began in January after The N&O story, though the evidence includes information from as early as September 2022.

That month, Hamlett responded to a critical email from Kevin Klosty, saying that staff “are not required to respond to written or verbal attacks, name calling, etc.”

In her request for the court order, Hamlett provided emails, social media comments, and a UNC Police report about two interactions at the school’s June 10 graduation ceremony to support her claims of stalking and harassment.

She detailed a Feb. 14 school board meeting where Hunter Klosty made a public comment. His father “moved to the row/seat closest to me and stared me down, smirked, then clapped loudly,” Hamlett’s motion read.

At the June 10 graduation, as Hunter Klosty was passing Hamlett on the stage, he stopped, pointed his finger at her, and called her a “plagiarizing (expletive).”

After the ceremony, his father went up to Hamlett and also pointed his finger at her and told her “the investigation is going to begin,” according to a UNC police report of the altercation. The police declined a request to remove the father and son from the ceremony but Hunter’s diploma was held after swearing at school officials and mailed at a later date.

Who are Kevin and Hunter Klosty?

Hunter Klosty was the former student body vice president at East Chapel Hill High. He is set to attend UNC this fall to study economics.

When he began his campaign for the student position, he began to criticize the district’s policies. According to Hamlett’s court motion, there were over 140 social media comments and dozens of emails between the Klostys and district staff.

His father, Kevin, is the CEO of Klosty Consulting, according to his LinkedIn page, and moved his family to Chapel Hill years ago. Some of the grievances Klosty had against Hamlett and her administration were fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a letter sent to The N&O by the family’s attorney, James Lawrence of Envisage Law in Raleigh, Klosty said closing schools during the pandemic had a negative effect on his family and children and “while many workers lost jobs or were furloughed during the pandemic, taxpayer coffers remained open to CHCCS.”

Social media comments and emails also show that Kevin Klosty strongly opposed the district’s decisions to limit sporting events and require face masks last year as the pandemic was winding down. He also criticized how the bus driver shortage was handled.

What did the family claim?

In an interview with The N&O in June, the Klostys said what Hamlett alleged did not “justify even what she’s asking for.”

“Anything online was never directed to her personal accounts. We’ve never contacted her personally. I’ve never called her on the phone,” Kevin Klosty said. “I have never threatened this woman with any kind of bodily harm. My son has never — the only thing we’ve done is question her policies and what she was doing to the school district.”

The pair said the UNC Police description of what happened at graduation was accurate but that Hunter believed the school district was harassing him because of his criticisms.

Lawrence wrote that Hamlett extended a fist bump to other graduates except for Hunter after his remarks. They believed it was an effort to “publicly shun” Hunter. He said that even though the Klostys were publicly critical of Hamlett, they did not intend to physically harm her.

In a letter to the school board Aug. 8, Lawrence wrote: “Hunter regrets using profanity on the stage during the June 10 commencement ceremony at the Smith Center. Hunter’s heat-of-the-moment statements were inconsistent with his respectful engagement with the Board and East administrators prior to June 10, and did not meet the high standards to which he holds himself.”

The letter also states Hunter had suffered online criticism, including anti-Semitic attacks, and threats heading into the ceremony because of his criticism of the district and that he was carrying this “baggage” with him as he crossed the stage..

“Even though we believe administrators and teachers at East were fully aware of this (harassment), the school district did nothing,” the letter states.

What happened after the graduation ceremony?

Hamlett filed two motions on June 16 seeking no-contact orders against the pair, and Orange County District Court Judge Sherri Murrell issued a temporary, 10-day order. The order was extended to Aug. 7 after the Klostys requested an in-person hearing.

On July 27, a week before the requested court hearing, Lawrence wrote a letter asking Hamlett and her attorney to inform them by July 31 if they planned to drop the case.

Because Hamlett had not dropped the case by then, the parties met for a hearing on Aug. 2 where they detailed all the information that would be presented at the Aug. 7 hearing. Lawrence told Hamlett and her attorney, J. Heydt Philbeck of Bailey and Dixon in Raleigh, they would also bring up the Klostys’ concerns about Hamlett’s dissertation.

Philbeck said the July 27 letter did not influence Hamlett’s decision to withdraw the court motion but “what did have some influence on Dr. Hamlett was Lawrence’s assertion that his clients, Kevin and Hunter Klosty, truly desired to ‘move on with their lives.’”

“(They) indicated that their conduct during the graduation exercise, which conduct put Dr. Hamlett in fear for her safety, was an isolated event with no risk of reoccurrence in the future,” Philbeck said.

In his Aug. 8 letter to the school board, Lawrence wrote “Our clients are interested in moving on with their lives.”

The letter also requested — “to avoid further escalation of this matter into litigation” — that the board rescind its no trespass orders against the Klostys and retract a statement about them on its website titled, “Denouncing personal attacks, obscenities and abuse toward CHCCS staff.”

Can the case be re-filed?

Voluntary dismissals happen when the party that brought the case withdraws it.

According to state law, plaintiffs who file to voluntarily dismiss a case “without prejudice” may refile their case within a year.

“If either of the Klostys engage in conduct that places Dr. Hamlett in fear for her safety, then she will not hesitate to refile the 50C petitions, if necessary, to ensure her protection and safety,” Philbeck said.

Letter to Superintendent Nyah Hamlett by Kristen Johnson on Scribd