Boyle district not in violation regarding coach’s resignation: Former teacher, softball coach said she was pressured to quit
Published 6:40 am Wednesday, April 25, 2018
OEA: Boyle County not in violation
The Boyle County School district was not found in violation by the Kentucky Office of Educational Accountability, after board chair Jennifer Newby and Superintendent Mike LaFavers were accused of exerting pressure to force the resignation of a Boyle County Middle School softball coach.
According to the OEA’s report released Monday, the allegations stem from a May 2017 incident where coach Shanda Machia Everage claimed she was “forced to resign.”
The report states the incident began when LaFavors received anonymous letters claiming allegations against the coach. The allegations were not released in the OEA report.
It goes on to say LaFavors asked the assistant superintendent, Chris Holderman, and the district’s finance officer, David Morris, to investigate the allegations, and a report was returned on March 24. The information in that report also was not included in the OEA report Monday.
“Holderman and Morris interviewed students, parents, Boyle County Middle School Principal Steve Karsner, Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Brian Wheeler and Ms. Everage during their inquiry,” the report states.
The OEA interviewed board members during the investigation; none had known about the situation involving Everage until after her resignation of her coaching position in May 2017. She resigned from her teaching position some time later.
Newby, who has a child on the softball team, was not interviewed.
“Everage stated she felt she was forced to resign after the investigation was completed. She stated that she was brought into the principal’s office to sign a document about her achieving tenure in the district and then Principal Karsner presented her with another document regarding her resignation,” the OEA report states. It says LaFavers said the pink slip was only for her softball duties; Karsner said he didn’t give her the pink slip because she resigned first and that he didn’t pressure her into resigning.
The conclusion reached by OEA is that Newby could not have influenced the investigation because she was not aware of it and that LaFavers has the authority to investigate claims, such as the anonymous letters given to him.
Efforts to contact LaFavers went unanswered.
