Suit names Arbor View coach

A former student of an Arbor View High School soccer coach won a multimillion dollar civil lawsuit Thursday in which the coach was named as someone who sexually abused her when he worked in a Kentucky school system in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper is reporting today that Richard Kazee was named in a lawsuit filed by Carol Lynne Maner.

A jury awarded Maner $3.7 million Thursday after she claimed the Fayette County Board of Education had ignored her allegations of abuse against Kazee and other teachers. The school system is in Lexington. According to the newspaper, Kazee was a social studies teacher and soccer coach when Maner made the allegations.

Clark County School District officials confirmed Friday that Kazee is a licensed employee who works at Arbor View and was hired into the school system in September 1993.

Arbor View's Web site says Kazee is the boys' soccer coach at the campus near Grand Teton and Buffalo drives. The Web site for the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association says he is also the athletic director at the school.

Calls to Kazee were not returned Friday.

The Herald-Leader also is reporting that Kazee was convicted of a misdemeanor sex solicitation charge and was suspended from teaching in the Lexington school system in 1991.

The article also reports that Kazee was suspended a second time in 1991 for drinking beer on campus during a first-aid class for coaches.

A detective for Lexington police wouldn't comment on why Kazee wasn't charged in the sexual abuse incident but said the case was still open, the article says.

Martha Tittle, the Clark County School District's chief human resources officer, was on vacation in Mississippi on Friday and said she was unaware of any allegations against Kazee.

But Tittle said that during the hiring process, human resources employees ask prospective teachers whether they have ever been arrested or the subject of any legal action. Lying on an application can lead to a district investigation, Tittle said, adding that the school system does fire employees for lying on applications.

"We'll certainly be looking into the situation and taking action as appropriate," she said.

"If this is a situation where there may have been some prior arrests or legal action, that is certainly something the district would investigate."