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Parkview district, teacher working toward settlement

ORFORDVILLE — Attorneys for a Parkview High School teacher on administrative leave are working on a settlement with the district about accusations the teacher misappropriated FFA funds.

More than 60 students, teachers and parents showed up Tuesday night at the high school gym in support of FFA advisor Jay Kennedy at a special school board meeting at which an evidentiary hearing was scheduled.

The board first met in closed session. Then officials announced in open session that a settlement was in the works between Kennedy and the district administration. The settlement couldn't be completed Tuesday because work was being done to reconcile numbers in Kennedy's bookkeeping, said Ellen La Luzerne, Kennedy's union representative.

The parties will work on the settlement and present it for board approval at a meeting on Thursday, June 4.

Kennedy, an agriculture teacher, has been on administrative leave with pay since March 13 on charges of possible misappropriation of funds, La Luzerne said.

La Luzerne and district co-superintendent Steve Lutzke both declined details on the case because it is ongoing.

"I'm glad it seems to be getting settled amicably rather than with hostility," Lutzke said.

The issue revolves around Kennedy's FFA bookkeeping practices, "or lack thereof," La Luzerne said.

Kennedy didn't intentionally create problems, La Luzerne said. His representatives said it came down to his lousy bookkeeping skills, and Kennedy—standing nearby—admitted that was the case. The FFA has about 75 activities, meetings and fundraisers each year, so bookkeeping has been on the low end of Kennedy's priority list, La Luzerne said.

Kennedy's supporters collected letters and signatures from teachers and current and former students describing what a great asset Kennedy is to the school and community.

"My interest in all of this is to get back to the kids," Kennedy said. "The kids are the ones who are caught in the crossfire."