A former administrator at Pike Central High School is alleging that recruitment and other violations occurred with the school’s basketball program, and that he lost his job after bringing the issues to light.
As first reported by the Appalachian News-Express, the lawsuit, filed in Pike Circuit Court, alleges that former Pike Central Assistant Principal and boys basketball coach Everett Keith May lost his job after he reported alleged illegal activities surrounding some of the basketball program’s players. According to court documents, May alleges that he was the victim of reprisal after reporting violations of Kentucky High School Athletics Association (KHSAA) bylaws.
Court documents said May reported that violations relative to, among other things, improper games, recruiting violations and attendance policy violations, had occurred. Among the reprisal allegedly suffered by May was being fired as boys basketball coach in 2016, being fired as track coach in 2017 and,, just a month later, being fired as assistant principal.
According to the News-Express report, May’s allegations of bylaws violations center around basketball players, some international, recruited by, and supplied to Pike Central by David Clevenger, of Kentucky BCI, a basketball organization based in Varney in Pike County. May alleges that Clevenger recruited players and brought them to Pike Central. May alleges that in one case, Clevenger allegedly met a player destined for an Indiana school at a Chicago airport, and brought the player to Pike Central, prompting a missing persons report out of Illinois. May alleges that Pike County Schools administrators were made aware of the issues, but failed to act, and instead retaliated against him.
May is seeking reinstatement to the position of assistant principal, along with back-wages and damages. According to court documents, the Pike County Board of Education is seeking a summary judgement against May, and is also seeking nearly $8,000 in wages that were erroneously paid to May after he was fired as basketball coach. A hearing on that motion for summary judgement was scheduled for Friday, but is now scheduled to be held early next month.
As of Wednesday, no formal complaint had been filed with KHSAA regarding the situation. A call to a number listed for Kentucky BCI reached a line that had been disconnected.
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