[Mr. E. Mann]

Core issue stems from allegations of football recruiting


Mike James
The Independent



WESTWOOD — Four investigators from the state Office of Education Accountability spent much of Thursday interviewing school officials in a probe of alleged school law violations in the Fairview Independent School District.

On schedule for sessions with the investigators were all five school board members — John Burke, Cindy Butcher, Scott McIntyre, Jeff Preston and Rick Tackett; athletic director Jeffrey Fletcher, finance officer Ernie Sharp, director of pupil personnel Brant Creech and superintendent Bill Musick.

Also scheduled to meet with investigators were elementary principal Christi Dornon and the school council, and high school principal Eric Hale and members of the school council that selected him for that post.

The list of interview subjects was outlined in an email obtained by The Independent. The email was sent to Musick from Karen Timmel, the OEA’s acting director.

The email did not detail the substance of the interviews, and the OEA does not release information on its investigations until it issues a final report.

But a source close to the investigation said the investigators are probing a variety of alleged violations including financial irregularities and improperly classifying out-of-district students as living inside district boundaries.

The source spoke to The Independent on condition of not being identified.

The core issue stems from allegations the district recruited athletes for its winning football program and listed them as having Westwood addresses, although the students did not live in the district, according to the source.

That would result in the district receiving more state money than it was entitled to because the state uses attendance figures to calculate school funding at about $4,000 per student per year — and out of district students don’t qualify.

The investigators also are looking into the rehiring of Musick by the board after it had accepted his resignation early this year, according to the source.

The Kentucky Department of Education’s legal counsel already has told the district rescinding Musick’s resignation is illegal, but the board has not taken any further action on the issue.

Also at issue are financial irregularities including in-school fundraisers for which proceeds are not accounted for, and lack of documentation for the sale of some school property declared surplus, the source said.
MIKE JAMES can be reached at [email]mjames@dailyindependent.com[/email] or

(606) 326-2652.


Way off base...I don't think so...apparently you don't read too well.