“I made a mistake, and I think I should be able to go back to my job,” former Shelby Elementary cafeteria worker Avette Dunn said at a hearing
Avette Dunn, a longtime cafeteria worker at Shelby Elementary School in Alabama, was let go by a school board after she accepted donations to allow students pay for lunch
During a Feb. 24 hearing. Dunn acknowledged she made a mistake
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dr. Lewis Brooks wrote, “This situation has nothing to do with feeding students…It is about an employee who solicited money that was not needed because the fund was not low”
An Alabama school board fired a school cafeteria worker for accepting donations to help students pay for their lunch.
The Shelby County School Board terminated the employment of Avette Dunn, a longtime cafeteria employee at Shelby Elementary, on Monday, Feb. 24, following a hearing, per Al.com, ABC affiliate WBMA, NBC affiliate WVTM and the Shelby County Reporter.
Shelby County officials said that the calls for Dunn’s firing were based on her alleged dishonesty about the donations when she was questioned about them, and for soliciting or accepting donations that was not part of her job duties, WBMA reported.
Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dr. Lewis Brooks recommended Dunn’s termination following an investigation that alleged she had solicited money for the school’s Parent Teacher Organization lunch account, per the Shelby County Reporter. He also accused Dunn of being insubordinate, according to a letter he wrote.
At Monday’s hearing, Dunn said she wanted to get her job back, as she had been on “detached duty” since October, according to Al.com, which cited news reports.
“I made a mistake and I think I should be able to go back to my job. In my opinion, I think I should’ve been suspended for two weeks, but I’ve been off since October, but I don’t think I should get terminated just for not telling,” Dunn said, per WVTM.
Dunn reportedly said that she did not reveal the donations because the donor preferred to stay anonymous, according to WBMA, adding that she wanted to make sure children didn’t go hungry in the school’s cafeteria.
She also said she did not know of any written rules about accepting donations on behalf of the student meal account, Al.com reported.
In a Feb. 21 media advisory issued three days before the hearing, and later shared with PEOPLE, the Alabama Education Association expressed its support for Dunn and called her eight years of service “exemplary.”
“These donations were properly placed into the student account designated for this purpose,” said the association in a statement. “At no point did Ms. Dunn or her colleagues misuse these funds. Every dollar was accounted for and used solely to ensure no child at her school went hungry.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
During the hearing, school board member Peg Hill acknowledged to Dunn that making a decision regarding someone’s employment is not easy but added, per Shelby County Reporter: “Yes, you admitted a mistake, but I don’t see the collecting of money nearly as serious as the fact that you couldn’t be honest with your principal.”
In a statement provided to PEOPLE through Shelby County Schools on Friday, Feb. 28, Brooks wrote:
“This situation has nothing to do with feeding students. Every student in every school has access to a nutritious breakfast and lunch during the school day. This is not about someone being punished for trying to feed needy children. It is about an employee who solicited money that was not needed because the fund was not low. She was not truthful when questioned by her supervisor and a district supervisor.”
He added: “Every employee that works in a school has to be a person of trust because we are responsible for the communities’ and parents’ most precious commodity – their children – and the resources to support them.”
PEOPLE contacted Avette Dunn and the Shelby County School Board for comment on Feb. 28, but they did not immediately respond.
