After mysterious video, protest by parents, a school superintendent agrees to resign.
A superintendent who allegedly engaged in improper activity with a teacher at school will resign, avoiding an investigation by the board of education.
Board members in McCreary County approved the agreement with Superintendent Michael Cash Thursday night.
Concerned parents protested before the meeting and packed into the board room, urging the five members to fire Cash rather than approving a settlement.
“As a community we ask that this type of behavior not go unpunished any longer,” said Melissa Maxwell.
However, board members said the settlement was a better use of taxpayer dollars.
An investigation of Cash would have cost up to $10,000, and firing him could have led to expensive, drawn-out litigation, board chairman Dustin Stephens said.
The agreement calls for Cash to waive tenure, meaning he can’t opt to go back into teaching in the county, board members said.
Cash agreed to resign effective either when he is approved for a disability retirement he’s seeking, or on June 30, whichever is sooner, said board attorney Tim Crawford.
“This is pretty much the man firing himself,” said Stephens, the board chairman.
Cash’s unpaid suspension will be switched to a status that will allow him to use paid vacation and sick time he’s accrued.
The potential investigation of Cash, who worked in the school system in other jobs before becoming superintendent in July 2016, arose after someone mailed a video to board members at their homes from a post office in Tennessee, Crawford said.
Board members have declined to publicly discuss the content of the video, but it was the reason the board voted to suspend him in early February.
Crawford said he had not seen the video, but that people who had seen it described it to him.
The activity described to him would be considered improper conduct involving Cash and another school employee, supposedly at school during work hours, Crawford said.
Darlene Price, who has a current-events program in McCreary County called Truth or Politics, said parents told her that their children said they were left without a teacher more than once.
“It is believed that what was caught on camera was the reason for these children to be left unattended in the classroom,” Price told board members.
Cash’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment on the activity the video allegedly showed.
Parents wanted the board to fire the female employee as well, but members said only the superintendent has authority to discipline employees.
The board recently hired Ronald “Sonny” Fentress as interim superintendent.
Members said the board has reported both Cash and the other employee to the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board, which can suspend or revoke professional certifications for educators.
It’s not clear who mounted the camera at the middle school or when, raising concerns for parents that it might have recorded students, or that there might be other cameras in school buildings.
Stephens said the board is pricing equipment to check whether there are other unauthorized cameras in county schools.
