The board retained C. Robert Steringer of the law firm Dunn Casey to lead the inquiry. He will work with at least two other investigators, including one with expertise in information technology. A fact-finding report is due to board members by Dec. 11, just four days before they are scheduled to vote on potential school closures, program shifts and boundary adjustments.

Board members said the goal is to determine whether any use of Signal or similar apps violated district policies or state public records retention laws. The findings will be publicly reported.

The resolution promises full confidentiality and protection against retaliation to anyone who speaks with investigators. It does not include board members as part of the inquiry, despite a suggestion from Director Christy Splitt to do so.

The issue surfaced several weeks ago after the Portland Federation of School Professionals released a screenshot of communications between Deborah Kafoury, outgoing Chief of Staff to Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong, and Sarah Norman. Norman works for Procedeo, the firm hired to oversee modernization of three high schools over the next four years, and also heads the district's Office of Real Estate, Infrastructure and School Enhancement.

Kafoury later said she planned to resign at the start of 2027, telling The Oregonian/OregonLive that she had long planned her departure but moved up the date. Willamette Week subsequently reported it had viewed messages showing Armstrong also used Signal to communicate with other district leaders, prompting the board to launch the investigation.

According to guidance from the Oregon Secretary of State's Office on personal devices, text messages, emails and messaging-app communications are public records, regardless of where they are stored, if they are "unique" and "relate to agency business." Public employees are directed to "only use approved software and systems when creating public records."

Three board members — Chair Eddie Wang, Vice Chair Rashelle Chase-Miller and Director Michelle DePass — backed an alternate resolution that would have directed the district's lawyer to work with outside counsel to determine the extent of Signal use among employees. Wang said he worried the language proposed by Directors Stephanie Engelsman and Virginia La Forte would have a "chilling effect" on "people who didn't do anything wrong, or made a bad judgement call."

La Forte countered that the version Wang, Chase-Miller and DePass originally favored "felt like the purpose was to find out who had given information, not to solve the larger problem of potentially having district business conducted on a platform where the messages are being destroyed."

"This amendment establishes those safeguards from the outset," she said. "It protects the integrity of the fact-finding process, and the board's requirement to fulfill our oversight responsibilities. Without really clear structural independence and confidentiality protections, we will undermine the credibility of this process before it even starts."

The investigation comes as the district prepares for a high-stakes vote on school closures and boundary changes, a decision that will shape the future of neighborhoods across Portland. The timing of the report — four days before that vote — means the findings could influence the board's deliberations at a pivotal moment for the district.