Opinion ID: 148904
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Basketball Coach Dispute and Removal from the Hall of Fame Committee

Text: During the 2005-2006 school year, a number of parents of students on the Milford girls' basketball team became angry with the coach of the team, Don Palmer, to the point that they eventually hired an attorney and filed grievances with the administration. One of the parents was Debbie Schultz, who was also a member of the first Milford Hall of Fame class. Schultz began videotaping the basketball games, although, according to Vereecke, she taped only Palmer on the sideline in an attempt to record evidence of his misconduct. Two of Vereecke's daughters were on the team, but he did not participate in the complaints against Palmer. Vereecke disapproved of Schultz's actions and felt that she should have contacted all the parents of the players on the team, or contacted the coach, before filing a grievance with the superintendent. Vereecke and Palmer were lifelong friends, so, in a show of support for him, Vereecke wore to basketball games a t-shirt with Palmer's attorney's name and phone number on it. Vereecke was not alone in disapproving of Schultz's tactics. In August 2006, the Hall of Fame Committee began receiving letters from members of the Milford community, at least three of whom were themselves inducted into the Milford Hall of Fame, expressing their displeasure with Schultz's actions. In early September 2006, Vereecke drafted a letter to Schultz informing her of the letters and that the Board reserves the right to remove any inductee . . . for conduct detrimental . . . to Milford High School and/or to the Hall of Fame. The letter was signed by Vereecke alone, but below his name Vereecke added Milford Hall of Fame. Twice, Vereecke asked Krystyniak and athletic director Maloney for permission to send the letter. They advised him not to send the letter at the first meeting, but remained silent the second time, neither authorizing him to send the letter nor expressly telling him not to. Vereecke viewed their silence as consent to send the letter, so he mailed it to Schultz on September 19, 2006. Vereecke never obtained authorization from the Hall of Fame Committee to send the letter, nor was there a provision in the Committee's bylaws that authorized him to do so. Upon receiving the letter, Schultz contacted Krystyniak, telling him that both she and her husband were extremely upset by the letter and that they had emailed complaints to the Huron Valley School District's superintendent, deputy superintendent, and director of human resources. On October 2, 2006, the Hall of Fame Committee convened to discuss, among other things, Vereecke's actions. Krystyniak, who was not a member of the committee, attended, asked the members if they had authorized or were aware of Vereecke's letter, and was informed they were not. Krystyniak disagreed with the content of the letter and was displeased with Vereecke's actions, specifically his decision to send the letter unilaterally. Vereecke filed the underlying lawsuit on behalf of Kelly nine days after this meeting. As noted above, Krystyniak was served with process eight days after that. Despite attending the meeting in early October, Krystyniak did not take any action against Vereecke until November 17, 2006roughly a month after Kelly Vereecke's suit was filed. On that date, Krystyniak sent a letter to Vereecke chastising him for having failed to model, utilize, or demonstrate the appropriate conduct necessary for the Athletic Coordinator position. It cited the letter to Schultz and Vereecke's overt support for Palmer as indicative of inappropriate conduct. In the end, Vereecke was removed from his position as the principal's designee to the Hall of Fame Committee, and his position as Athletic Coordinator [was] changed with reduced `visibility' and [his] professional conduct placed under review for the remainder of the school year. This letter was Vereecke's first written reprimand or discipline of any kind in over thirty years of teaching. Before reprimanding Vereecke, Krystyniak got input from Teasdale. In his deposition, Teasdale explained that reduced visibility meant Vereecke would not be the public face of the school at athletic events. Teasdale understood the professional conduct mentioned in the letter to refer to the manner in which Vereecke handled himself as the athletic coordinator. Maloney states in an affidavit that Krystyniak, Teasdale, and Deputy Superintendent Nancy Coratti mentioned to him in a November 2006 meeting that they also wanted to remove Vereecke from his role as athletic coordinator at Milford, but neither Krystyniak nor Teasdale was questioned about such a meeting in their depositions.