Rashaad Powell, the former Renton High School assistant principal and boys basketball head coach, will not return to either job after a district investigation concluded he sent sexually explicit messages to two mothers of student-athletes and mishandled basketball program funds. Powell was placed on paid administrative leave in April 2026 while the Renton School District investigated the allegations, and the district ultimately declined to renew both his assistant-principal and coaching contracts.
Powell's administrative leave was set to run through September 30, 2026, and he has confirmed he intends to appeal the district's decision, according to the Bellevue Reporter. The same outlet reported that Powell was initially placed on leave in April 2026 as the internal investigation got underway. The Auburn Reporter, which also covered the case, similarly detailed the leave timeline and Powell's plans to fight the non-renewal, as first reported by Auburn Reporter.
According to the investigation, Powell used an unidentifiable Snapchat account to send sexually explicit messages, including unsolicited photos and videos of himself masturbating, to two mothers of Renton athletic-program students. One mother said she received the sexual messages in January and February 2026. Powell allegedly asked one mother when she was going to give him a chance, commented that he wanted to touch her, and was accused of propositioning her for sex.
A Confrontation and a Late-Night Call
The investigation traces back to March 20, 2026, when a student confronted Powell in his office. Powell told investigators the student asked whether he had been communicating with the student's mother, though Powell said the student did not make explicit sexual accusations during that confrontation and that he had no idea what the student was talking about. The student was absent from school multiple times after the interaction, per the district's findings.
Powell called the student's mother after the March 20 confrontation and again on March 27, 2026, a call confirmed by a call log screenshot cited in the investigator's report. Powell later spoke with Renton Principal Drew O'Connell about the matter on March 31, 2026, and O'Connell separately contacted the parent. Powell claimed the student was creating a hardship in order to transfer to a better football program, and said he believed the student was simply seeking to transfer schools.
A second mother, referred to as Parent B, reported harassment from Powell that occurred primarily in 2024. Parent B said Powell used Snapchat's disappearing-messages feature specifically to avoid leaving a digital trail. Investigators noted that Powell sent messages over a one- to two-year period using that same disappearing-message function to avoid detection. Powell denied showing up uninvited at Parent B's house.
Investigators Cite Inconsistent Statements
The investigator's report concluded that a preponderance of evidence supported both mothers' claims, finding that the two women independently corroborated consistent accounts and that contemporaneous reporting supported their credibility. Powell has claimed the sexual messages were consensual.
Records from the investigation show Powell's account shifted across three separate interviews: he initially denied the messages to the mothers were sexual, then said they “could have” been, before ultimately admitting to sending them during an April 28, 2026 interview, as detailed by the Auburn Reporter's review of district investigation records. The investigator's report described Powell's dishonesty during the process as deeply concerning and found his accounts were inconsistent throughout. Powell told investigators, “To a fault, I am a person that follows the rules.”
Booster Funds Used to Bypass District Procedures
Beyond the harassment findings, the district investigation also found Powell failed to follow properly communicated funding procedures. A non-disciplinary Letter of Direction email sent by O'Connell to Powell revealed that the basketball program attempted to use booster club funds and personal accounts to cover airfare, hotel rooms, rental cars, and tournament entry fees rather than routing the expenses through Associated Student Body procedures, according to Seattle Weekly. Powell may have also sought district reimbursement for expenses he had already paid through personal accounts, and he was accused of misusing booster club funds more broadly.
Under Washington Administrative Code (WAC 392-138) and guidance from the Washington State Auditor's Office, public money raised in students' names must be held strictly within district ASB accounts rather than mixed with private booster funds or personal accounts. That legal separation is central to why the district flagged Powell's and the basketball program's funding arrangement as a compliance failure rather than a mere bookkeeping oversight.
New Leadership Already in Place
The district has already moved on from Powell's departure. Dr. Rebecca L'Amouras, a Renton High alumna with an Ed.D. from City University of Seattle, replaced Powell as assistant principal effective August 12, 2026. On the same date, Farley Haruo — a former assistant coach and school security staff member — became the school's new boys basketball coach, according to background reported by the Renton Reporter.
Powell's fall from a celebrated campus figure is notable given his history. He was named the 1999 KingCo MVP as a Renton High student, won the 2004 Big West Defensive Player of the Year award at the University of Idaho, and played minor league professional basketball through 2015 before returning to coach his alma mater, per Wikipedia. In September 2024, Powell and Haruo were among several Renton High staff publicly recognized by Washington Governor Jay Inslee for using CPR and an AED to save a student experiencing a cardiac event during a PE class.
What Comes Next
Powell plans to appeal the district's non-renewal decision. Under Washington state law (RCW 28A.405.210 and .310), certificated school district employees facing contract non-renewal have the right to request a formal administrative hearing before an independent hearing officer within statutory deadlines, per FindLaw. That process is separate from any potential action against Powell's state educator certificate.
The Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction's Office of Professional Practices holds sole state authority to suspend or revoke educator certificates, but typically relies on local superintendents to submit written complaints following district-level investigations, according to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. It remains unresolved whether Renton's superintendent has submitted such a complaint, or whether the district's financial review will prompt further findings from the state auditor's office.
The case adds to a string of recent incidents involving school employee conduct in the Renton area. In December 2024, an undercover Renton Police Department operation targeting child sex crimes led to the arrest and resignation of an assistant principal from neighboring Seattle Public Schools, part of a sting that resulted in charges against seven people in South King County, as reported by KING-TV. Hoodline has previously reported on a related case involving a regional school employee arrested in a Renton sex case.
