USD 253 Emporia is not releasing any additional information about the legal separation agreement recently reached with former superintendent Kevin Case.
A redacted version was released to local media right before Thanksgiving last week. A statement from the district says there were three sets of redactions, each of which dealt with personal information which would “constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” if released to the public. The district says redacted areas do not discuss any reasons for the separation and they don’t discuss any monetary compensation.
The statement came after KVOE News filed an open records request for the separation agreement’s unredacted version. In the redacted paperwork, the USD 253 Board of Education agreed to pay Case all his salary and benefits through June 30, 2021, including sick leave, vacation and insurance. Case will also get a $10,000 lump sum as a replacement for contractual compensation and benefits owed in the 2021-2022 academic year. He may also seek employment elsewhere if he so chooses.
Both Case and the district waived any potential claims of wrongdoing against each other as part of the settlement. Neither Case nor the board can disclose any details about Case’s employment or separation from the district aside from what is approved by state law and the Kansas Open Records Act.
Case led the district from July 2016 to Nov. 20. The board has said Case resigned effective immediately. Prior to coming to Emporia, Case had been superintendent at Inman dating back to 1999. He had also worked as a principal at Smoky Valley High School in Lindsborg.
Statement from USD 253 Emporia
The separation agreement being provided is redacted in three places. K.S.A. 45-221(a)(30) provides that the district is not required to disclose information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Please note that the redacted portions deal with information falling under this exemption. The areas redacted do not recite any reasons for the parties’ separation, nor do they address monetary compensation exchanged. All details concerning those settlement terms are intact in the separation agreement you are receiving. Disclosing this redacted information would only serve to provide information of a personal nature regarding Mr. Case which we believe would be an unwarranted invasion of his privacy. Some of the redacted information is also exempt from disclosure based on K.S.A. 45-221(a)(4), K.S.A. 45-221(a)(1), and/or K.S.A. 72-2411. Therefore we respectfully decline to disclose those redacted portions of the separation agreement.
