Mr. Skeeter Key is the Director of Academic Advising and Student Retention. He assists students in choosing their schedules and is the Advisor to all students with undecided majors. He works closely with students in establishing academic success plans. Mr. Key also works with any students considering withdrawal from Flagler College. He and his wife, a St. Augustine High School teacher, have been married 27 years and have a son and daughter-in-law in North Carolina and a daughter in New York.
Candidate admits affair
By MARCIA LANE
marcia.lane@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 10/01/08
A former St. Johns County school principal who is seeking a seat on the School Board said he retired in the middle of the 2006 school year after he had an "improper relationship" with an employee.
Lionel S. (Skeeter) Key Jr. made the revelation Monday during an editorial board meeting with The St. Augustine Record.
Under questioning by Record Editor Peter Ellis, Key said he resigned in midyear 2006 because he had some "truly personal problems. I, I did some things in my personal life that I'm not proud of."
When asked if he had an "improper relationship" with an employee, Key said he would take the Fifth Amendment and said the woman "needs her privacy." After further questioning, Key acknowledged he had an improper relationship with an employee of his at South Woods Elementary School near Hastings.
Key emphatically denied he left after a complaint by a school employee.
"No, no employee ever complained," Key said, explaining he was the one who went first to Assistant Superintendent Martha Mickler and then Superintendent Joseph Joyner.
"I went to Dr. Joyner," he said. "I was trying to be proactive on making the situation right."
The Record is not naming the woman involved because she was not a supervisor or a teacher and because she is no longer an employee of the District. She worked at South Woods for the 2006-2007 school year.
Key said he first asked the administration to be allowed to leave South Woods Elementary while staying in the School District, but after discussions with district officials including human resources director Jim Springfield, "We decided I would go ahead and retire at that time."
Key said the episode hurt his wife and family as well as the school district.
"It was a personal problem that I had. I regret it immensely," he said. He said his bad judgments "hurt my family, hurt the school district."
Key took a leave of absence in October 2006 and then officially retired in December. He worked in the district as a teacher and later principal at middle and elementary schools from 1983 to 2006. He now is the director of academic advising and retention at Flagler College.
Key is running against incumbent Carla Wright, who was first appointed to the post by Gov. Jeb Bush and then won election to the job. Wright, who was also at the editorial board meeting, was asked if Key was "fired for cause or was he asked to leave for cause?"
She declined to comment.
"In my capacity as a School Board member it would be unethical for me to comment on any of this," Wright said.
Superintendent Joyner said he would not comment on personnel matters.
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