Police say Erin Chaskey, 37, eavesdropped when she used her cell phone to record then-Onaway Area Community School District Superintendent Rod Fullerton talking to a school board member in Fullerton’s office on Oct. 14.

Fullerton has since taken a position at Harbor Springs Public Schools, he said on Tuesday.

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Chaskey disputes the accusation, claiming she was in a public place when she recorded the conversation, during which the officials allegedly criticized her for concerns she had raised about the school’s curriculum.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Presque Isle County Prosecutor Ken Radzibon, right, speaks with Sgt. Darin Rabeau from the Presque Isle County Sheriff’s Office during a hearing for Onaway parent Erin Chaskey in the 89th District Court on Tuesday.

Video evidence combined with testimony from Fullerton and school board member Michael Benson that they had no idea Chaskey was listening to their conversation provided adequate evidence for Chaskey’s case to continue on to a higher court, Judge Maria Barton said on Tuesday in Presque Isle County’s 89th District Court.

Office personnel had left for the day when Chaskey arrived after school hours on the 14th as Fullerton and Benson met in Fullerton’s office, all parties agreed during Tuesday’s hearing.

Fullerton’s door stood open, but his office did not provide a view into the secretary’s office, he testified, drawing a sketch of the school office area at Barton’s request.

In surveillance video shared in court by Presque Isle County Prosecutor Ken Radzibon, Chaskey enters the empty secretary’s office, waits several minutes on the visitor side of the secretary’s desk, and then walks to the entrance of a hallway down which Fullerton and Benson are meeting.

Disappearing from the picture several times in the direction of the superintendent’s office, Chaskey in the silent video hovers near the hallway, sometimes holding a phone in the direction of the office.

News File Photo Judge Maria Barton, left, listens as Deputy David Schmoldt of the Presque Isle County Sheriff’s Office testifies in the 89th District Court in Rogers City in this December 2021 News archive photo.

According to police, the surveillance footage captures Chaskey’s phone recording video.

About 10 minutes into the video, High School Principal Marty Mix enters the office from an exterior doorway, exits into the administrative hallway, and returns with Fullerton and Benson.

Police later recovered four videos from Chaskey’s phone, for which they secured a search warrant after School Resource Officer David Schmoldt of the Presque Isle County Sheriff’s Office viewed the surveillance footage at Mix’s request, Schmoldt testified on Tuesday.

Schmoldt did not offer details about the contents of the recovered video.

Hillsdale-based defense attorney Daren Wiseley asked Fullerton and Benson why they did not close their office door or ensure a staff person was in the office to protect their conversation.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Former Onaway Area Community School District Superintendent Rod Fullerton draws a diagram of the Onaway High School office area during a hearing in the 89th District Court in Rogers City on Tuesday.

Most school officials meet with their doors open, Fullerton said, saying he still considers such conversations private.

Agreeing with Radzibon that the school’s office area falls under the court’s definition of a private place, Barton moved the case forward to circuit court.

Last month, Chaskey filed a lawsuit against Fullerton, Benson, the school district, and the Presque Isle County Sheriff’s Office, contesting a school edict banning her from school property after she recorded Fullerton’s meeting.

The lawsuit, which asks for an unspecified amount in damages and the lifting of the school’s no trespass order, claims Fullerton ousted Chaskey from school grounds because she raised questions about the school’s policy on teaching racial issues.

Chaskey in the lawsuit said that during the meeting she recorded, Fullerton and Benson criticized her and talked about ways to hide their email conversations from her.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Onaway High School parent Erin Chaskey listens outside an administrative hallway in a still photo taken on Tuesday of a video recorded by a surveillance camera at the high school in October.

As of Tuesday, the Onaway school district has not been served any papers regarding the lawsuit, according to Mindy Horn, interim superintendent for Onaway Area Schools.