EDINA, Minn. (KMSP) -
Mystery and tight-lipped silence surround the sudden departure of Edina High School's athletic director, who resigned at a special meeting of the Edina School Board on Monday night.
John Soma came to Edina three years ago and even acted as assistant principal at the school for a time before the district put him on leave on Aug. 23.
School officials confirmed to FOX 9 News that the district was investigating Soma when he resigned, but they have not explained why. To make the matter even more confusing, district officials say the decision to put him on leave had nothing to do with his job.
In an e-mail to FOX 9 News, the district's communication director wrote, "The allegations do not involve any wrongdoing that occurred in his capacity as an employee with the Edina Public School District."
The district declined to elaborate on what the allegations are or who made them, saying only that they were brought to their attention the day Soma was placed on leave. So far, there has been no clarification as to why the schools felt they needed to investigate the unspecified allegations if they were unrelated to his job.
Soma came to Edina from South Washington Schools, and they told FOX 9 News two allegations were made against Soma there, but only one resulted in what they called a "letter of remediation."
In that instance, Soma had written a series of checks on the activities account for Woodbury High School in 2007 that did not comply with the district's accounting policies. Some were blank, and others were made out to family members of those he was actually paying so they could avoid reporting the money to the IRS.
