The Seattle Times has an interesting story this morning about a former Lake Washington High School principal who caused a lot of concern among his supervisors in the Lake Washington School District.

Mark Roberston, the former principal, eventually agreed to leave the district in exchange for a settlement, but not before looking at a porn newsletter on his district computer, hiring his sister against district policy, and firing a football coach in a manner that led to a lawsuit and a $60,000 settlement paid to the former coach by the district.

You can read the story here. The Times frames it as a look into the difficulty of dealing with a problem employee in a public school setting:

Robertson’s story exemplifies challenges districts face when dealing with a low-performing school administrator.

However, for those keeping tabs on eastside pastor Ken Hutcherson and his Antioch Bible Church, the story also offers a look into Antioch’s financial dealings with Lake Washington High School, which rents Antioch its gym each Sunday so that Hutcherson can hold services there. (Antioch Bible Church has no physical church; instead it rents public school property.)

Robertson is a member of Antioch Bible Church, and the arrangement Lake Washington High School reached with Antioch while he was principal may suggest one reason that Antioch was in no hurry to stop holding services in a high school gym: It was getting a sweet deal.

As principal, Robertson was in charge of rental agreements for groups using school space. The biggest of those groups is Antioch Bible Church, headed by pastor Ken Hutcherson. Robertson is a church member.

Hutcherson said the two agreed it was best for Robertson not to be involved in Antioch’s rental agreement. A school staff member handled the contracts.

Still, the schedule Robertson approved for the 2002-2003 school year was not updated for three years, although the district increased fees during that time, said Reith, the district spokeswoman.

In 2005, the district discovered that Antioch had been undercharged by $1,100 to $1,400 a month. The estimated loss: $30,000.

This raises the question: What is the Christian thing for Hutcherson and his church to do in this situation?

Due to the apparently lax oversight of one of his church members, the school district whose facilities Hutcherson uses for his Sunday service lost $30,000. Will Hutcherson offer to repay this lost money?