Embattled School District Director of Finance and Performance Ken Gentile sent instructions to former school district employee Amy Reno about how to access complaints sent to a whistleblower hotline called EthicsPoint, The Citizen has learned.

Gentile claimed last week that he did not know how complaints about his conduct found their way to Reno, a subordinate, after she left her employment at the district.

Gentile forwarded an email to Reno on April 21, 2011, while Reno was still employed with the district but before the hotline was in operation. The forwarded email reads, in part, "You have been assigned as a system user in the EthicsPoint application. Please take a moment to review the information provided below and follow-up with your administrator should you have questions."

The email is a smoking gun of sorts, as Gentile, who is tasked with investigating complaints made to the district's whistleblower hotline, has claimed no knowledge of how or why the emails reached Reno's school district email account months after she left her job with the district.

The complaints allege that, among other things, Gentile pressured his staff to pray with him, that he split a contract into three parts to avoid School Board scrutiny, and that he hired a family member.