Indian Lake BOE hires interim superintedent

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INDIAN LAKE — An interim superintendent has been hired for Indian Lake Schools for the 2017-18 school year.

During a special meeting Friday, the Indian Lake Board of Education voted unanimously to hire Rob Underwood as interim superintendent. He had been serving as interim superintendent since Superintendent Patrick O’Donnell had been placed on leave in June.

Underwood, who is beginning his seventh year with the district, has been the high school principal and assistant principal.

Kyle Wagner was hired as Indian Lake High School interim principal for the school year. He will continue to hand a portion of his current duties as the district’s curriculum coordinator.

The board also approved a contract with the Madison/Champaign County Educational Service Center Superintendent Dan Kaffenbarger for consulting services to assist Underwood on a limited basis when needed.

The employment hearing for O’Donnell originally set for Aug. 4 is rescheduled to begin Monday, Aug. 21. The hearing may last more than one day and will be held off school grounds. The hearing is not open to the public as O’Donnell exercised his legal right to hold the hearing in private.

O’Donnell filed for a hearing concerning his employment status in front of a referee appointed by the Ohio Department of Education within the prescribed 10-day window after notification of the Board’s action on June 29 to place him on unpaid leave pending action to terminate.

O’Donnell has been charged with 14 charges: four counts of rape, all first degree felonies, four counts of sexual battery, all second degree felonies, and six counts of gross sexual imposition, all third degree felony.

He was originally arrested, June 19, and charged with gross sexual imposition in Bellefontaine Municipal Court. That charge was dismissed when Logan County Prosecutor Eric Stewart decided to present the case to the Logan County grand jury.

O’Donnell is accused of having abused a girl, now 13, since 2013.

O’Donnell a former Sidney City Schools superintendent, principal and teacher.

His wife, Heather O’Donnell, has been charged with two counts of child endangering, both third degree felonies.

She is on leave from the Midwest Regional Service Center where she is the superintendent.

Heather is scheduled to go before a jury, Nov. 30, for what is expected to be a two-day trial.

Her husband’s two-day trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 28.

Staff report

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