Kettering school board replaces Trent

The Kettering School Board has picked a woman with banking experience "and a wealth of volunteer service" to fill the unexpired term of board member Jim Trent, who resigned in late September in the wake of his being charged with a sex crime.

Jennifer Kane, named to the board on Thursday afternoon, is a chairwoman of the Citizens for Kettering City Schools levy campaign, according to the prepared statement from the school district.

Kane, to be sworn in by the Kettering Board of Education on Tuesday evening, will finish out Trent's four-year term. The term continues through 2015.

She brings 11 years of banking experience to the board, having been an assistant vice president with Provident Bank in Cincinnati and a retail banking senior managing officer with Bank One in Dayton, according to the district.

Kane's community/volunteer experience includes stints as president and executive board member of the Junior League of Dayton and president of the Southdale Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization.

She is a parent representative from Van Buren Middle School on the district's Instructional Services Council, according to the district.

Kane earned her bachelor's from Wittenberg University, has studied French business practices and culture at the Centre d-Etudes Francaises in Avigon, France, and is a 2009 graduate of the Dayton Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Dayton.

She and husband Dan have three children who attend Van Buren.

The school board received interest in the seat vacated by Trent from a good number of highly qualified candidates, board President George Bayless said.

Trent, 80, resigned Sept. 25. He was charged Sept. 18 with sexual imposition and disorderly conduct after an incident in his neighborhood. The two misdemeanor charges were filed by a Kettering woman who told police Trent held her in an embrace, tried to kiss her and grabbed her buttocks.

Trent has pleaded not guilty to the charges. A pre-trial hearing in city Municipal Court is scheduled for Oct. 28.

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