An investigation revealed Rashaad Powell, who was one of Renton High School’s assistant principals and the boys basketball head coach, had sent sexual messages to mothers of students.
A Renton High School assistant principal and coach, once touted as a hero for returning to his alma mater to coach the boys basketball team, has been replaced after an investigation concluded that Rashaad Powell had violated district policies and professional responsibilities after being accused of sending sexually explicit photos and messages to two women, each with a son playing across Renton athletic programs.
Powell was placed on administrative leave in April during the investigation led by the Renton School District. Powell’s contracts were not renewed following the investigation and ahead of the 2026-2027 school year, a new assistant principal and a new coach were hired to replace him.
Powell is accused of inappropriate and unprofessional behavior, including sending an alleged proposition for sex to one mother and photos and videos of him masturbating to another mother, both of Renton High School students, according to the district’s investigation obtained by The Renton Reporter through a public records request. Powell had sent multiple vulgar messages over the span of one to two years to the mothers.
“Mr. Powell’s assertion that the communications were ‘consensual’ does not mitigate the seriousness of his conduct,” according to the report. “As Assistant Principal, Mr. Powell occupies a position of authority and influence of the students of both mothers. This created an inherent power imbalance that compromised the voluntariness of the interactions.”
According to the investigation, the mother of one student began receiving sexual messages from Powell in January and February of 2026. What followed was a confrontation from that student on March 20 in Powell’s office, which was overheard by multiple students and staff outside the school’s main office.
“The student yelled ‘F*** you, Powell,’” the report said. “‘My mom, pal? My f****** mom?’”
Powell had told the investigators that the student asked whether Powell had been “communicating with his mother,” downplaying the interaction in an interview with Renton Deputy Superintendent Shannon Harvey. Powell also stated he had no idea what the student was talking about. In his second interview, which took place over a month later on April 28, he said the student never made explicit sexual accusations during the confrontation.
Following the March 20 interaction, Powell called the student’s mother to inform her about the incident. According to Powell, “he was confused and didn’t know what the student was talking about,” the investigation states. “He (Powell) said she (Mother A of student) told him he didn’t want ‘Dude’ (presumably a partner) to find out about the situation.”
Powell then had a “brief” talk with Renton Principal Drew O’Connell on March 31, and Powell still said he was unaware of the reason for the confrontation. Later that day, O’Connell reached out to the parent to check in on the student, as the student had been absent multiple times following the interaction with Powell, which happened 11 days prior.
Prior to Parent A being interviewed by O’Connell, Powell reached out to the mother in an attempt to allegedly corroborate their answers to investigators. Parent A said Powell “told her that administrators may be calling her and requested that if they called to state their relationship was ‘civil.’”
Later in the interview process, Powell denied having any contact with the mother following the initial March 20 phone call informing her about the interaction with the student in his office. He denied O’Connell asked him about the said phone call. But a screenshot of a call log confirms that Powell did indeed call the mother on March 27.
The investigation laid out two scenarios where Powell used the social media platform Snapchat to inappropriately talk to the mothers of two students.
Messages that started out benign quickly turned sexual. Powell reportedly propositioned one mother for sex and asked “when she was going to give him a chance,” the investigation stated. Powell initially denied any sexual messages were sent, but in later interviews altered his answer.
The report states that a second parent, Parent B, described Powell as “unethical and morally bankrupt.” During her son’s sophomore and junior years (primarily in 2024), she told investigators she had received harassment from Powell.
Those forms of harassment were described as “wildly inappropriate” and “very sexual.” The messages included “unsolicited photos and videos of himself masturbating as well as comments about wanting to touch her.”
There are no descriptions of any evidence from RSD in the report, no screenshots or screen recordings of inappropriate images were listed in the investigation’s documentary evidence that was reviewed. There were only references of illicit images and videos from the mothers. Parent B said Powell had utilized Snapchat’s disappearing messages feature to avoid leaving a digital trail.
In a conversation with a staff member, it was alleged that Powell had showed up at Parent B’s house uninvited, which Powell unequivocally denied, stating “I don’t know where she lives.”
Powell claims the sexual messages sent to these mothers were consensual, citing “they could have used the ‘block’ feature on Snapchat, but instead they continued to seek his support as a point of contact for their sons,” the investigation said.
The investigators came to three main points in the conclusion of the report.
Both mothers independently corroborated their stories that provided consistent accounts of Powell’s behavior.
The investigators stated that due to him deciding to use Snapchat, there is a preponderance of evidence to support the mother’s claims. “His use of an unidentifiable Snapchat account to send sexually explicit messages and his use of the disappearing message to avoid detection,” the report stated.
Due to the mothers going to different staff members at Renton, the investigators also came to the conclusion of contemporaneous reporting in 2024. Meaning that Parent B and Parent A’s discussing his actions to two different staff members at the same time, “support the credibility of Parent A’s and Parent B’s claims and undermine his claim that the mothers are ‘spinning a narrative’ to save face,” the report said.
The final piece of analysis is that of Powell’s switching statements. He went from the messages were never sexual to, they “could have [been]” before finally admitting they had occurred in the third interview. Throughout the investigation, it was shown that Powell’s accounts were not consistent.
“Powell’s dishonesty during the investigation process is deeply concerning,” according to the investigation.
The investigation, along with emails between Powell and the Renton School District through his legal team show that Powell believed that a student had been looking to transfer schools and was using him to that end.
In Powell’s theory, which he also shared with The Reporter, if the student could create a hardship and have a reason to transfer, then that student could transfer to and then “be part of a better football program at another school,” Powell stated in a meeting with district investigators and a WSP Representative.
“To a fault, I am a person that follows the rules. That is the part that people can’t understand,” Powell said in an interview at the Renton Public Library with The Reporter on June 1.
Additionally, in a separate result to The Reporter’s public records request, it was uncovered that Powell was accused of misusing Booster Club funds.
Powell and Renton Basketball had “attempted to use Booster Funds instead of following the Associated Student Body (ASB) process. In turn, this prevented the District from ensuring compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and procedures. “This non-compliance has raised several concerns,” an email from O’Connell to Powell said, with the subject line “Letter of Direction (non-disciplinary).”
The email shows that Powell may have used personal funds and later attempted to get reimbursement from the district, instead of the allocated funds from ASB and the Booster Club accounts. The email also mentioned that Powell had failed to follow communicated procedures when it came to issues of funding.
“Documentation provided post-trip, including expenses for airfare, hotel rooms, rental cars and tournament entry fees, suggest that these expenses may have been paid through personal accounts rather than Booster accounts,” said the email from O’Connell to Powell.
Powell has told The Reporter that he is planning to appeal the decision made by the Renton School District to not renew his contract.
On Aug. 12, it was announced that Rebecca L’Amouras had replaced Powell as one of the assistant principals of Renton High School. The school’s new boys basketball coach is former assistant Farley Haruo.
