(back)

100 turn out to support KMS teacher

By Tony Ku

A popular Kyrene employee says she may not have her contract renewed at the end of this year after word surfaced regarding her alleged misuse of district funds and failure to return sporting equipment.

Nearly 100 students, teachers and parents attended the Feb. 24 school board meeting to support the case of Katey Boak, a student adviser at Kyrene Middle School.

However, district officials noted that no contract-renewal decisions have been made and won’t be until after the March 9 meeting.

Speaking on Boak’s behalf, attorney William Hobson said punishment was handed down before his client had a chance to respond to the allegations.

“She is not fighting for anything more than to keep her job,” Hobson said.

Scott Sofsian, Kyrene’s director of supplemental student services, declined comment on the issue, citing the district’s privacy policy on personnel matters.

According to Hobson, the allegations stem from last year, when the Kyrene Middle School lacrosse program was still active. The district contends that Boak used district funds to purchase lacrosse equipment, he said.

Hobson, however, said Boak didn’t use any district funding and, in fact, used money from individual students to pay off an invoice owed the team’s vendor.

“There’s no question that money was owed to the vendor,” Hobson said, emphasizing that the pertinent issue was how the money was accounted for, not that Boak allegedly used district funds.

“She never received training on how to account for the money. It’s like if you asked someone to do someone else’s taxes, but didn’t give them any training on how to do it.”

The other allegation is that Boak failed to return the lacrosse equipment to the district office. Hobson contends Boak wasn’t told when or where to return the equipment.

“She was criticized for not returning the equipment, yet nobody from the district asked for the equipment to be returned,” he said.

Hobson said students in the lacrosse program had kept the equipment for other leagues, but were more than willing to return the items had they been contacted by someone from Kyrene.

Boak’s supporters were unhappy about the issue, although district officials emphasized that no recommendation has been received and no decision made.

“It really seems to us that she has been railroaded,” Desert Vista High School lacrosse coach Bill Lynch said. “She’s definitely been an outstanding educator to the district.”

(back)