COLUMBUS — The continuation of the Ohio Department of Education public hearing concerning Mansfield School District treasurer Robert Kuehnle had been set for next week.
The date of the hearing will be Monday, July 15, at 1 p.m. in room 101, said Carolyn Cypret, spokeswoman for the ODE.
The public hearing, which began June 18, consisted of hearing both ODE and the Treasurer’s side of an incident at the Benjamin-Logan School District in 2012 and 2013, while Kuehnle served as that district’s treasurer.
ODE maintains the position that while working for Benjamin-Logan Local School District, Kuehnle had a pattern of conduct unbecoming of a school administrator, said Mary Hollern, Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio.
Kuehnle, represented by James C. Carpenter of Steptoe and Johnson law offices in Columbus, denies any wrongdoing.
“Evidence will show this is a man (Kuehnle) who worked at a very high level for a long time and then suddenly out of the blue, things have now come up,” Carpenter said during his opening statement. “I think the evidence will show as he went through that rough period where he went under that attack, he handled it professionally and the claims against him in this matter are not a violation of the code administrators are expected to behave at.”
The hearing was stalled after June 19 due to witnesses being unavailable to testify.
During the hearing, both sides will question Student 1, who Kuehnle said he paid an amount close to $800 for the student to travel to an economics conference in Boston.
“I wanted her to get to do it,” he said. “I had done it and it’s an incredible program.”
The treasurer said he discussed the opportunity with the parents who said they appreciated the voluntary support.
When Student 1 returned, she and Kuehnle went to a lunch at a Chinese restaurant.
“No one was at the central office and I wanted it to be in public,” Kuehnle said. “Her mom dropped her off, and picked her up from the restaurant.”
During the second day of the hearing on June 19, Kuehnle was asked about a tweet to Student 1.
Richland Source was asked not to identify students in this case.
