Dorothea Epps is no stranger to the Butler School District. What’s strange is how the Butler School Board is investigating a complaint against the longtime coach.

The board has hired a Pittsburgh law firm to investigate the complaints against Epps by a couple of current players and their parents. The board will pay the attorneys as much as $20,000.

The board’s action is an insult to Epps, who has been coaching basketball for 24 years, half of those years as girls varsity head coach. That’s a quarter-century of faithful service to the district; a quarter-century of a community’s trust in her training and directing of our youth.

“Dorothea is extremely qualified,” said then-athletic director Tim O’Malley when Epps took over the program in 2003. “Her selection had everything to do with merit. She’s the perfect person for the job. She has experience with the kids and the knowledge.”

Epps’ career record at the varsity helm — 157 wins, 117 losses — certainly bears out O’Malley’s assessment.

The outside hiring is confounding for several reasons:

• In light of a pending consolidation that will close a majority of the district’s 11 elementary schools, how can a board that is desperate to save money justify the expense of investigating a longtime coach?

• Epps was paid $8,612 to coach the 2014-15 season. The law firm hired to look into allegations against her will get nearly two and half times that much.

• The allegations have not been aired in public. Instead, the board has met in executive session, with those who complained. These meetings probably don’t violate the letter ot the Sunshine Act, but they circumvent the spirit of it.

• If there’s an allegation of physical abuse, was it reported to child protective services? Under strict state laws enacted this year, it’s a crime not to report such allegations.

• If there are allegations of misuse of funds, why not call police into it?

• It’s rare for any high school coach not to generate some grumbling from dissatisfied players and their parents. It’s part of the job. Is the district setting a precedent — will expensive lawyers investigate all future complaints against coaches?

If the allegations are not criminal, then it’s a simple matter of personnel and performance. Personnel matters ought to be resolved by the athletic director and administration, in accordance with policy established by the school board. When the board starts changing policy to handle an individual case, nothing good results.

Maybe some of the intensity Coach Epps brought to the job has died down; her record for the past five seasons — 42 wins and 66 losses — falls far short of her first seven years. Such reversals happen to a lot of coaches. Many lose their jobs over losing records. That’s part of the job, too.

If it’s a simple matter of the program needing new leadership, then the administration should do its job and fire Epps.

Maybe a committee of boosters and alumni could help guide a decision. But not a lawyer.

There’s no need for the board to take this odd, costly direction in what appears to be a routine personnel dispute.