ANSWERS FROM ELLIPSES AFTER A STAFF MEMBER DIED WHILE WORKING IN A GROUP HOME IN JOHNSTON. THIS IS A STORY WE鈥橵E BEEN FOLLOWING CLOSELY AND HER FIRST INTERVIEW, THE CEO OF ELLIPSES EXPLAINS THE STRUGGLES THE FACILITY FACES WHILE HOUSING SOME OF IOWA鈥橲 MOST TROUBLED TEENS. IN MORE THAN 80 YEARS. THAT WE鈥橵E EXISTED, WE HAVE NEVER HAD THIS KIND OF AN INCIDENT. UM, IT鈥橲 DEVASTATING. ELLIPSES CEO CHRIS COPELAND HOLDS BACK TEARS WHEN TALKING ABOUT THE DEATH OF HER STAFF MEMBER, KATHLEEN GALLOWAY MENKE, THE 50 YEAR OLD SINGLE MOTHER DIED IN MAY AFTER INVESTIGATORS SAY A TEEN WHO LIVED AT THE GROUP HOME ASSAULTED HER. YOU KNOW, WE鈥橰E RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LIVES OF OUR KIDS AND OUR STAFF ALL DAY, EVERY DAY AND SO HELPING THEM THROUGH SOMETHING LIKE THIS IS HARD WORK. IT鈥橲 THE RIGHT WORK. IT NEEDS TO BE DONE. UM, BUT YEAH, UM, ELLIPSES AND EVERYONE INCLUDED IN ELLIPSES IS GRIEVING. THIS IS COPELAND鈥橲 FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE GALLOWAY MCKEE鈥橲 DEATH. SHE SAYS ELLIPSES IS COOPERATING WITH THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION AND IS CONDUCTING ITS OWN INTERNAL INVESTIGATION INTO WHAT HAPPENED. ON MAY 8TH, 15 YEAR OLD JOVAN MATHIS IS CHARGED WITH SECOND DEGREE MURDER FOR ALLEGEDLY SHOVING GALLOWAY MANKY, CAUSING HER TO HIT HER HEAD ON THE PAVEMENT. THEY HAD THREATENED MOM A COUPLE DAYS BEFORE THIS HAD HAPPENED. GALLOWAY MANKEY鈥橲 OLDEST DAUGHTER, CHLOE WILLIAMSON, SAYS SHE QUIT WORKING AT ELLIPSES ABOUT A MONTH BEFORE HER MOM鈥橲 DEATH BECAUSE OF VIOLENCE AND THREATS FROM MATHIS. SHE BELIEVES ELLIPSES DID NOT DO ENOUGH. AFTER LEARNING OF THE THREATS. WHAT CAN YOU DO TO ENSURE THAT EVERY STAFF MEMBER WHO COMES TO WORK AT ELLIPSES IS SAFE? I THINK THE HARD PART ABOUT THIS IS THERE ARE NO ASSURANCES ABOUT THIS WORK, RIGHT? AGAIN, WE WORK WITH HUMAN BEINGS AND WE WORK WITH KIDS WHO HAVE COME FROM REALLY TERRIBLY TRAUMATIC BACKGROUNDS AND SO THE UNPREDICTABILITY OF THAT WORK MAKES MAKES IT REALLY DIFFICULT TO SAY, YOU KNOW, I CAN BE 100% CERTAIN THAT BAD THINGS AREN鈥橳 GOING TO HAPPEN. ELLIPSES PROVIDES FOSTER GROUP CARE TO AROUND 100 TEEN BOYS AT THE JOHNSTON FACILITY, RECORDS SHOW. POLICE WERE CALLED THERE NEARLY 1000 TIMES IN THE PAST THREE YEARS AS THE CEO, COPELAND SAYS SHE TAKES THIS SERIOUSLY AND HAD ALREADY STARTED WORKING WITH POLICE ON A PLAN TO IMPROVE SAFETY MONTHS BEFORE THE DEADLY ASSAULT. WE KNEW THAT OUR CALLS FOR SERVICE HAVE BEEN GOING UP. WE KNEW THAT, YOU KNOW, KIDS WERE LEAVING OUR CAMPUS MORE OFTEN THAN THEY DID BEFORE. AND SO TRYING TO FIGURE OUT, FIRST OF ALL, THE WHY BEHIND THOSE THINGS, BUT ALSO FIGURE OUT WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT SO THAT, AGAIN, WE PRIORITIZE THE SAFETY OF OUR KIDS, OUR STAFF AND OUR COMMUNITY. RIGHT NOW, ELLIPSES DOES NOT LOCK ITS DOORS TO KEEP TEENS IN, COPELAND SAYS. IT鈥橲 SO THEY DON鈥橳 FEEL INSTITUTIONALIZED WHILE IN FOSTER CARE. THESE KIDS COME WITH SO MUCH TRAUMA. ARE THEY GETTING INDIVIDUALIZED THERAPY, INDIVIDUALIZED MEDICATION, INDIVIDUALIZED CARE? ABSOLUTELY, ABSOLUTELY. UM, AND AND TO YOUR POINT, EVERY KID IS DIFFERENT, RIGHT. AND SO, UM, WHILE WE OFFER SOME SPECIALIZED PROGRAMING IN THE SENSE OF SIMILAR ISSUES OR SIMILAR THINGS THAT KIDS HAVE BEEN THROUGH, UM, EVERY KID IS DIFFERENT. AND SO OUR APPROACH IS ABSOLUTELY TO SAY WHAT WORKS FOR JOHNNY MIGHT NOT WORK FOR BOBBY. AND SO WE HAVE TO FIGURE THAT OUT. COPELAND SAYS. THE MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS OF KIDS ARE MORE COMPLEX THAN EVER BEFORE, AND FOSTER GROUP CARE IN IOWA LOST 26% OF BEDS IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS, CREATING THE BIGGEST GAPS IN THE SYSTEM. SHE HAS SEEN IN HER NEARLY THREE DECADES OF SOCIAL WORK. THERE ARE TIMES WHEN WE DON鈥橳 HAVE THE RIGHT PLACES IN THE STATE OF IOWA THAT CAN BE ENOUGH TO GET THEM EVERYTHING THAT THEY NEED SO THAT THEY CAN MOVE FORWARD SUCCESSFULLY, GALLOWAY MANKEY鈥橲 DAUGHTERS ARE NOW CONSIDERING LEGAL ACTION. WE JUST DON鈥橳 WANT HER LEGACY TO DIE. WE WANT SOMETHING TO COME OUT OF THIS. THEY WANT THEIR MOM鈥橲 DEATH TO BE A CATALYST FOR CHANGE. AT ELLIPSES AND IN THE ENTIRE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM. I THINK FOR US, THE THE BEST THING WE CAN DO TO HONOR HER IS TO FIX THE THINGS THAT ARE BROKEN IN THE SYSTEM, TO CONTINUE TO CARE ABOUT THESE KIDS, TO CONTINUE TO TAKE CARE OF OUR STAFF. UM, AND THAT鈥橲 OUR INTENTION, COPELAND SAYS. IN 2017, THE STATE ADDED A CLAUSE TO THE CONTRACT, SAYING GROUP HOMES LIKE ELLIPSES CANNOT REJECT OR EJECT ANYONE. THAT鈥橲 BECAUSE IN OTHER STATES, TEENS ENDED UP BEING HOUSED IN HOSPITALS AND DHS OFFICES. SO ELLIPSES REALLY HAS NO CHOICE. BUT TO KEEP EVERYBODY, NO MATTER HOW VIOLENT THEY ARE. YOU CAN FIND MORE ON OUR INVESTIGATIONS INTO IOWA鈥橲 EMERGENCY YOUT
糖心vlog Investigates: Following the death of a staff member, Ellipsis CEO addresses safety concerns
Kathleen Galloway-Menke, 50, died after Johnston police say a teenage resident of the group home assaulted her.
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Updated: 7:09 AM CDT Jul 9, 2024
In an exclusive interview with 糖心vlog, Ellipsis CEO Chris Koepplin addresses safety concerns following the death of a staff member. "In more than 80 years that we have existed, we have never had this kind of incident. It's devastating," Koepplin said. Johnston police say a 15-year-old resident of the group home shoved Kathleen Galloway-Menke, 50, on May 8, causing her to hit her head on the pavement. She died a few days later after being taken off life support. The teen is charged with second-degree murder. Galloway-Menke worked at Ellipsis for about a year. Before working at the nonprofit, she had more than two decades of experience working with special needs students in the Johnston School District. Koepplin says Galloway-Menke was a "dream" staff member who came with experience and a passion for helping troubled youth. "We are responsible for the lives of our kids and our staff all day every day, and so helping them through something like this is hard. It's the right work. It needs to be done, but yeah, Ellipsis and everyone included in Ellipsis is grieving," Koepplin said as she held back tears. This is Koepplin's first interview since Galloway-Menke's death. She says Ellipsis is cooperating with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration-- and is conducting its own internal investigation into what happened on May 8."I think the hard part about this is there are no assurances about this work. We work with human beings, and we work with kids who have come from really terrible traumatic backgrounds, and so the unpredictability of that work makes it really difficult to say, 'I can be 100% certain that bad things aren't going to happen,'" Koepplin said. Galloway-Menke's oldest daughter, Chloe Williamson, also worked at Ellipsis but quit a few weeks before her mother's assault. She said she left the job because of the violent behavior and threats from the 15-year-old and other residents. Williamson told 糖心vlog in a previous interview that she felt Ellipsis did not do enough after learning of the threats. Koepplin said she can't respond to these specific claims by Williamson but says that Ellipsis does take the safety of staff extremely seriously. Months before the assault, Koepplin said Ellipsis had already begun working on a plan with Johnston police to improve safety for staff, residents and the surrounding community. "We knew that our calls for service have been going up. We knew that kids were leaving our campus more often than they did before, so trying to figure out, first of all, the 'why' behind all those things, but also figuring out what we can do about it. So again, prioritizing the safety of our kids, our staff and our community," Koepplin said. Records show police were called to Ellipsis nearly 1,000 times in the past three years. A majority of calls include runaways. Koepplin says Ellipsis does not lock doors to keep teenagers inside because the nonprofit does not want the teens to feel institutionalized while in foster care. She says Ellipsis is reviewing that policy to see if changes need to be made. Ellipsis provides group foster care to around 100 teen boys at the Johnston facility. Approximately 170 staff members are employed at the nonprofit, which operates 24/7, 365 days a year. Koepplin said the mental health needs of kids are more complex than ever before, which contributes to creating the biggest gaps in the child welfare system she has seen in her nearly three decades of social work."There are times when we don't have the right places in the state of Iowa that can be enough to get them everything they need so they can move forward successfully," Koepplin said. Galloway-Menke's daughter is considering legal action. They say they want their mom's death to be a catalyst for change at Ellipsis and in the entire child welfare system."I think for us, the best thing we can do to honor her is to fix the things that are broken in the system, to continue to care about these kids, to continue to take care of our staff, and that's our intention," Koepplin said. 禄 Download the free 糖心vlog app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google PlayGet the latest headlines from 糖心vlogMore coverage of the Ellipsis assault
JOHNSTON, Iowa — In an exclusive interview with 糖心vlog, Ellipsis CEO Chris Koepplin addresses safety concerns following the death of a staff member.
"In more than 80 years that we have existed, we have never had this kind of incident. It's devastating," Koepplin said.
Johnston police say a 15-year-old resident of the group home shoved Kathleen Galloway-Menke, 50, on May 8, causing her to hit her head on the pavement. She died a few days later after being taken off life support. The teen is charged with second-degree murder.
Galloway-Menke worked at Ellipsis for about a year. Before working at the nonprofit, she had more than two decades of experience working with special needs students in the Johnston School District. Koepplin says Galloway-Menke was a "dream" staff member who came with experience and a passion for helping troubled youth.
"We are responsible for the lives of our kids and our staff all day every day, and so helping them through something like this is hard. It's the right work. It needs to be done, but yeah, Ellipsis and everyone included in Ellipsis is grieving," Koepplin said as she held back tears.
This is Koepplin's first interview since Galloway-Menke's death. She says Ellipsis is cooperating with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration-- and is conducting its own internal investigation into what happened on May 8.
"I think the hard part about this is there are no assurances about this work. We work with human beings, and we work with kids who have come from really terrible traumatic backgrounds, and so the unpredictability of that work makes it really difficult to say, 'I can be 100% certain that bad things aren't going to happen,'" Koepplin said.
Galloway-Menke's oldest daughter, Chloe Williamson, also worked at Ellipsis but quit a few weeks before her mother's assault. She said she left the job because of the violent behavior and threats from the 15-year-old and other residents. Williamson told 糖心vlog in a previous interview that she felt Ellipsis did not do enough after learning of the threats.
Koepplin said she can't respond to these specific claims by Williamson but says that Ellipsis does take the safety of staff extremely seriously. Months before the assault, Koepplin said Ellipsis had already begun working on a plan with Johnston police to improve safety for staff, residents and the surrounding community.
"We knew that our calls for service have been going up. We knew that kids were leaving our campus more often than they did before, so trying to figure out, first of all, the 'why' behind all those things, but also figuring out what we can do about it. So again, prioritizing the safety of our kids, our staff and our community," Koepplin said.
Records show police were called to Ellipsis nearly 1,000 times in the past three years. A majority of calls include runaways. Koepplin says Ellipsis does not lock doors to keep teenagers inside because the nonprofit does not want the teens to feel institutionalized while in foster care. She says Ellipsis is reviewing that policy to see if changes need to be made.
Ellipsis provides group foster care to around 100 teen boys at the Johnston facility. Approximately 170 staff members are employed at the nonprofit, which operates 24/7, 365 days a year. Koepplin said the mental health needs of kids are more complex than ever before, which contributes to creating the biggest gaps in the child welfare system she has seen in her nearly three decades of social work.
"There are times when we don't have the right places in the state of Iowa that can be enough to get them everything they need so they can move forward successfully," Koepplin said.
Galloway-Menke's daughter is considering legal action. They say they want their mom's death to be a catalyst for change at Ellipsis and in the entire child welfare system.
"I think for us, the best thing we can do to honor her is to fix the things that are broken in the system, to continue to care about these kids, to continue to take care of our staff, and that's our intention," Koepplin said.
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