Washingtonian: The Gonzaga Board Defends the Firing of Mike Davis

[Anonymous]

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/people/capitalcomment/23105.html

Seeking to quell growing campus outrage over the mysterious February firing of one of the school’s most popular teachers, Gonzaga College High School’s Board of Trustees issued a joint statement Monday saying, “There was no other choice.”

The firing of math teacher Mike Davis—communicated by an e-mail to the school community from Gonzaga President Rev. Stephen Planning, which said Davis had “fail[ed] to maintain expected professional boundaries between teacher and student”—created widespread confusion and disbelief among students and parents and led to a Friday protest by hundreds of Gonzaga boys.
School officials and board members will not discuss the exact nature of the accusations, which, according to multiple sources, involve a student who attended the school six or seven years ago. In a letter to Gonzaga alumnae last week, Davis’s lawyer, Martin Oliverio, wrote that the school’s lack of clarity “implies that there was inappropriate sexual or physical conduct between Mike and a student. This is totally false.” Planning did say in his e-mail that there was no criminal conduct involved in the complaint.

[ Edited to comply with copyright laws. ]

[Anonymous]

Wow this is really turning into a huge uproar. Can any alums/parents give some insight into the situation?

[Anonymous]

Alumnae. Lol!!

[Anonymous]

I'm an Gonzaga alum and I have no clue what happened. The fact that Mike won't come out and say what specifically happened is damning in and of itself.

[Anonymous]

testing

[Anonymous]

This is a very sad story and the school did a terrible job with the entire situation -- damaging this man's solid reputation as well as its own. From what I understand, the teacher did not do anything inappropriate.

[Anonymous]

If he didn't do anything why did they fire him? They had to have some grounds for termination, right? I don't see why neither side will give any info on what he was fired for.

[Anonymous]

If they didn't have grounds he has a case to sue doesn't he? There must be enough grounds that the school lawyer OKed it.

[Anonymous]

Private school teachers have very few rights, and many privates do "fire at will" w/out a valid reason. This is not unheard of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private school teachers have very few rights, and many privates do "fire at will" w/out a valid reason. This is not unheard of.

This is true, a private school may be able to fire a teacher without cause, depending on the terms of the contract, but if the school has slandered the teacher by saying he did something inappropriate when he did not, he could sue on that basis.

[Anonymous]

If he was fired for any reason that wasn't "fishy" G would not have been compelled to send these long winded and cryptic communications out to students, families, etc. My guess is the school and the fired teacher have some agreement to keep things quiet hence the lack of any real Information coming out of Gonzaga.

[Anonymous]

If it didn't involve sex, drugs, or alcohol between the teacher and student then it could have involved :
-academic integrity
-teacher having knowledge of drugs and NOT taking any action within the school
-kid a dealer?
-kid selling prescription drugs?

Who knows and sometimes individuals at schools cover up for kids. I am only speculating based on nonsense I heard about at another private.

[Anonymous]

Considering it is a Catholic school there are a lot of other areas that could be problematic as well - handing out contraceptives to a student, helping to facilitate an abortion for a student's GF, facilitating or turning a blind eye to a student action that violates the teachings/values of the school.

[Anonymous]

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http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/people/capitalcomment/23105.html

[Anonymous]

I taught with Mike Davis for most of his 25 years at Gonzaga. There are very few people that I respect more than Mike. He has earned that respect through his dedication, professionalism, openness to growth always, caring for his students, and total honesty. I am sad beyond words that this has happened to him(and to Devon and his sons.) I am concerned that Mike has been caught in the "perfect storm." The Church and educational institutions are under great scrutiny due to abuses that have occurred and went unaddressed. Gonzaga fits both designations(Church & school), and certainly the administrators carry a heavy burden to act responsibly. In this atmosphere the circumstances could lend themselves to burning an innocent person. My belief in Mike is solid.