Opinion ID: 148904
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Basketball Game Incident and Removal from Position as Athletic Coordinator

Text: During a varsity basketball game at Milford on February 9, 2007, a fight broke out among the student spectators after a halftime sportsmanship activity soured. According to Greg Michaels, Athletic Director at Lakeland High School (LHS), whose team was Milford's opponent, a former police officer attempted to stop the fight. LHS parents reacted aggressively to the officer's actions and Michaels intervened to head off the parents. After order was reestablished, Vereecke approached Michaels in a rude, hostile and unprofessional manner to complain about the LHS students. Michaels reported that Vereecke then acted inappropriately for the rest of the game, including yelling profane language at LHS students. In contrast, Maloney, who was also at the game, asserts that Gregory Michaels and Charles Vereecke were equal participants in the verbal confrontation and both raised their voice to the other. After the incident, Teasdale conducted an investigation into what happened. Teasdale reported that he received in-person accounts that Michaels was in control and not animated to the same degree that Vereecke was. Teasdale interviewed Michaels, who reported that he felt Vereecke had been overreacting. Teasdale also met with Vereecke, who admitted to him that: (1) he knew a group of students from each school would meet and shake hands at halftime to demonstrate good sportsmanship; (2) he should have but did not inform the athletic director or principal about the plan; (3) he confronted Michaels demanding to know what action was going to be taken; and (4) that he blew [his] temper. On March 19, 2007, Teasdale issued Vereecke a written reprimand for his conduct at the game. Teasdale did not issue a written reprimand to Michaels, although he had the power to do so. Vereecke concedes that neither his tenure as a teacher, his compensation, nor his benefits were affected by this reprimand. Sometime after Teasdale sent Vereecke the reprimand, however, he recommended to Superintendent Johnston that she not renew Vereecke's position as the athletic coordinator at Milford. He based his recommendation on the February 9 basketball incident and the issues in the beginning of the year with Debbie Schultz. At some point that spring, Johnston followed Teasdale's recommendation and decided that Vereecke's athletic coordinator contract would not be renewed for the 2007-2008 school year. Johnston testified at her deposition that she concluded Vereecke was no longer a suitable ambassador for the school because of these incidents. Teasdale notified Vereecke of the district's decision on June 13, 2007. In their deposition testimony, both Teasdale and Johnston denied that Vereecke's lawsuit against the district played any role in this decision. Although this decision had no effect on his tenure status, Vereecke contends that the loss of extra-duty pay amounting to $8,000 per year could affect his pension benefits, which are calculated using the salary of the individual's three highest-earning years of the last five of his employment.