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Board to hire investigator

For the second time in less than two months the McCreary County Board

of Education will hire an outside investigator to look in to an unspecified

complaint lodged by an employee of the school district.

 

By Greg Bird

birdman@tmcvoice.com

 

Holding a special session Tuesday night, the Board met in executive session for 47 minutes for the purpose of “discussing proposed or pending litigation against the Board.”

The only other agenda item was the Board taking action to “hire an outside investigator to investigate an employee’s complaint,” following the closed-door session.

The Board voted 5-0 to authorize Board Chair Dustin Stephens to enter in to a contract with an outside investigator to look in to the complaint, and granted Stephens the authority to issue subpoenas if needed. The Board set a limit of $10,000 for the cost of the investigation.

Following the meeting neither Board Attorney Tim Crawford nor Acting Superintendent Sonny Fentress could comment on the nature of the complaint, or if it was related to the events of the suspension and pending resignation of Cash.

Crawford could only state the complaint came from an “anonymous employee” and the complaint was filed within the McCreary County School District, not with any Department of Education agency or court.

As the Board of Education cannot become involved in personnel matters other than the Superintendent or Board Attorney, it is very likely that the complaint was filed against either Board Attorney Crawford or Michael Cash. Crawford was present with the Board throughout the executive session, and would have likely recused himself from the discussion if the matter concerned him.

In February the Board contracted with a Lexington-based law firm, Sturgill Turner to conduct an investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct of Superintendent Michael Cash.

That investigation ultimately went nowhere as negotiations between the Board and Cash leading to his eventual resignation called for the dismissal of the investigation.

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