By Dave Bangert
Based in Lafayette
October 4, 2026
Lingering beefs on the West Lafayette school board simmered to the top Thursday, this time over comments made about a campaign contribution from a school board campaign six years ago and possible political favors that followed in an appointment to the West Lafayette Public Library board.
“It may not show on my face or my voice, but this is actually the angriest I’ve been in a long time,” board member George Lyle said, referencing comments board member Dacia Mumford had published during a library board nomination process.
“The same school board member who had concerns about this appointment process has accused me of essentially trading this library board seat in exchange for a political donation,” Lyle said. “Accusations of corruption or influence trading are serious. I take my integrity seriously. I will not tolerate having my honesty and integrity questioned.”
Lyle went on to suggest the Mumford “repeatedly conducted (herself) with self-interest at heart,” accusing her of secretly recording other school board members and being “at the heart of misinformation campaigns and doxxing campaigns.” He demanded that Mumford retract and correct her “potentially libelous blog post,” published in a monthly “Meeting Summaries” Substack she compiles.
Mumford tried to step in, calling for a stop what she called bashing of a school board member. School board member Melissa Prochnau told Lyle during the meeting that she found his comments inappropriate.
But later, Mumford stood by comments she wrote ahead of the vote, including that Lyle might abstain from the library board nomination vote “because of the appearance of a conflict of interest” over a $10,000 donation one applicant made in 2020 to a political action committee that backed a slate of school board candidates – two years before Lyle ran for school board for a first time and four years before he was elected.
“Some people seemed surprised to hear Lyle go off topic during a public meeting to criticize me personally,” Mumford said after Thursday’s meeting. “This doesn’t often happen in our public meetings, but (school board member Amy) Austin and Lyle have made similar and at times much more disparaging comments to me outside of public meetings. There has been a slate of candidates running together in every contested West Lafayette school board election since 2016. This has been damaging to our community and harmful to our schools. My view is that each candidate should run independently and demonstrate that they will represent the community rather than a handful of donors.”
At issue was one of two school board nominations to the West Lafayette Public Library board.
Martha Altschaeffl, a West Lafayette resident nearing the end of second four-year appointment, was nominated for another term in August. But that was held up by questions from Mumford and others on the school board over whether the nomination process should be opened and advertised for others who might want the appointment to the unpaid position. The board voted 3-3 in August on Altschaeffl’s nomination, sending the inconclusive appointment back for a call to others to apply. The school board did a Q&A with three applicants, including Altschaeffl, in September.
Mumford wrote in her Aug. 25 “Meeting Summaries” – which round up her version of minutes from school board meetings and work sessions, interspersed with personal commentary she puts in italics – that she’d been “surprised by how contentious the discussion became, particularly because everyone seemed to agree that the board needs a clearer and more open appointment process, even though there was disagreement about whether Altschaeffl should be reappointed before that process was put in place.”
She continued, framing the debate:
“The history provides some context. In 2020, Altschaeffl contributed $10,000 to the RDP-PAC to support school board candidates Amy Austin, Brad Marley, Tom Schott, and Doug Masson. That is a significant amount of money in a small-town school board election. At the time, the PAC supported Austin and opposed (David) Purpura, Yue (Yin), and me. In 2022, it supported Lyle, who lost. Austin later established a PAC that supported herself as well as Purpura and Lyle. With that background, I better understand why all three supported allowing Altschaeffl to continue serving before moving to a more open process. I do not think political spending, or even the appearance that it could lead to special access or consideration, should play a role in appointments made by the school board.”
The RDP political action committee had been an incumbent-vs.-challengers flashpoint in the 2020 election and again in a reconstituted form in 2022. Mumford had been among those who contended the community should be wary of a PAC that was fed in part by contractors working on school projects, the state teachers union and school board members, and that was used to lift incumbents and incumbent-friendly candidates in a crowded, divisive 2020 election.
In the days leading up to Thursday’s meeting, Mumford reprised the theme in an edition of her Meeting Summaries that suggested Austin and Lyle would abstain from the library board nomination vote to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest.
“The donation was in 2020 and was partially used in that election cycle, then the remaining money was used to support Lyle and the other candidates running together in the 2022 election,” Mumford said after Thursday’s meeting. “It’s the same money. It should not cost tens of thousands of dollars to run for the school board in a small community like ours. Large donations look like someone trying to buy political favors.”
Lyle took exception to being called out that way, especially over a political donation made two years before his name was on a ballot.
“At best, this accusation is a mistake,” Lyle said. “At worst, it is a complete lie. … What I do question is why, during a time when we’re asking the community to stand behind us and support of our school, would this board member make such an untrue accusation? Why would this board member put this board’s integrity, the board’s reputation and our funding vote at risk at this crucial moment? I cannot fathom another answer except selfishness.”
Lyle was talking about West Side’s ballot question Nov. 3, asking voters to approve a revised property tax referendum.
During the last referendum campaign, in 2023, consultants told the school board that the best strategy was to have a unified front if they wanted the sort of community support that won two previous referendums by wide margins. At the time, the consultants warned about “the elephant in the room” – namely the chippy nature of school board meetings at the time. Part of that, at the time, was chalked up to Mumford’s summaries of board meetings. (The school referendum wound up winning with 80% of the vote in 2023.)
A year later, in 2024, some school board members attempted to censure Mumford, calling her out over her Meeting Summaries and accusing her of publishing personal information about people who’d signed petitions to get candidates of the school board ballots that year.
Mumford is running for re-election Nov. 3, one of four candidates up for three school board seats. The others are incumbent Laurence Wang and challengers Maria Koliantz and John Robinson.
As for the library board nomination, the school board voted 3-1, with three abstentions, for West Lafayette resident and parent Ted Fondak. Mumford, Wang and Purpura voted yes. Austin voted no. Lyle, Yin and Prochnau abstained.
Mumford called it “meaningful progress,” showing how far the school board had come in the past four years on a more open, transparent and clearly defined process for appointments.
Lyle said he abstained because he didn’t want to vote against Fondak, even though he supported Altschaeffl. As for his demand for a retraction?
“I have not heard from Dacia,” Lyle said, “nor do I expect to.”
Reached for comment later, Altschaeffl declined, asking only to stay out it.
Dave Bangert retired after 32 years of reporting and writing on just about everything at the Lafayette Journal & Courier. He started the Based in Lafayette reporting project in 2021. To learn more about subscribing to Based in Lafayette, click here.
