Former Fernandina Beach High School Principal admits to stealing funds

Nassau County School Board

March 2, 2018 1:02 p.m.

The following is a statement from Dr. Kathy Burns.

Dr. Kathy Burns, Nassau County School Superintendent

"On Monday, January 29th, two Fernandina Beach High School employees began to suspect that funds from the sale of tickets to a basketball game held at the Fernandina Beach High School were missing. While the school district employees were reconciling gate receipts from the game, in accordance with school district procedures, they discovered what they believed to be a discrepancy between the number of tickets sold and the amount of money collected from the ticket sales.

The employees promptly notified the school resource officer. School Resources Officers notified the Superintendent and an investigation by the Fernandina Beach Police Department was initiated. However, school and law enforcement officials were unable to interview Dr. Lodree that week, because Dr. Lodree had taken sick leave during the second half of the week and was unavailable for an interview. The following Monday, February 5th, Dr. Lodree admitted for the first time that he had taken the funds, and submitted his resignation.

Prior to that time, the Superintendent and administrators of the Nassau County School District had no reason to suspect that Dr. Lodree would take money from the school. The school district recovered the money through a deduction from Dr. Lodree’s final paycheck and the School District has reported Dr. Lodree’s actions to the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Professional Practices."