Yellow Springs principal now on paid leave

Charges expected against juvenile in sex assault investigation, prosecutor says.

The Yellow Springs school district will start the new year without a permanent high school principal or assistant principal.

Additionally, an investigation into sexual assaults that were alleged by a high school student last school year is now in the hands of the prosecutor’s office.

Principal Tim Krier is now on paid administrative leave, and the district has hired an interim high school principal and interim assistant principal for the coming school year, according to Superintendent Mario Basora.

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Krier initially went on medical leave in March through the end of the school year, but he was put on paid administrative leave this summer. In the initial notification letter from Basora regarding medical leave, Krier was advised to turn in keys and other district-owned property, collect his personal belongings and stay off campus.

Basora did not return messages seeking more details about why Krier’s status changed.

Krier has not returned to the high school since a student reported to school administrators on March 7 that there had been sexual assaults involving one or more other students.

Officials have said previously that the principal is not a suspect in those allegations.

Basora also said earlier that the district was conducting an internal investigation into how staff members responded to the student’s allegations. State law requires persons who are charged with the care of minors to report such allegations to law enforcement.

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The status of the district’s internal investigation is unknown.

Basora said previously that their probe was limited because of Krier’s medical leave status, which sets limits on when and why the district can contact him.

Meanwhile, Yellow Springs police handed over findings in the alleged sex assault investigation to the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office.

Charges are expected to be filed against a juvenile suspect, according to Nicole Burke, assistant prosecutor and chief of the juvenile division.

Burke said her office is in negotiations with the juvenile’s defense counsel.

“We are set to meet with (the) victim in the next couple of days, pursuant to Marcy’s Law, and will be filing charges after that,” Burke said Friday.

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Krier was hired as the principal to the high school and middle school in 2009 and previously worked as a teacher in schools in the Columbus area, according to documents in his personnel file with the district. He is currently working under a three-year contract with the district that is set to expire in July 2019, according to district records.

Krier’s salary is set at $104,424 as of August 2016 when his current contract went into effect, according to district records.

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