To Williamsville school administrators, Leslie Davis lost her job as a fifth grade teacher because she misused district technology resources for personal gain.
In Davis’ view, however, the district used a pretext to terminate her after she filed a harassment complaint against a fellow teacher who was friends with their principal.
The conflicting allegations are at the heart of a lawsuit Davis filed this year against the district, her former principal and the former colleague she accused of stalking her.
Williamsville representatives say they fired Davis because she used a district-owned Chromebook while privately tutoring a student during summer 2024.
“The circumstances surrounding Ms. Davis’ receipt of this Chromebook in July, after the school year had been completed, are highly suspicious and, I would suggest, provide evidence of consciousness of irregularity and impropriety,” Andrea Schillaci, the district’s outside lawyer, said during a recent legal hearing.
When the state Labor Department agreed Davis’ “misconduct” left her ineligible for unemployment benefits, the former Casey Middle School teacher appealed.
During several hearings this summer, Davis said she didn’t knowingly violate Williamsville’s rules on technology use. Davis argued that the district retaliated against her after she accused a favored fellow teacher of stalking and harassing her – including on school grounds – after she ended their relationship.
“Prior to bringing forward this claim, I was always in excellent standing. I have received glowing evaluations, positive feedback and had no history of disciplinary issues whatsoever,” Davis said at the hearing. “Immediately after filing my sexual harassment complaint, I was treated very differently by both colleagues and my administrators.”
While this teacher and the other defendants deny Davis’ claims, an administrative law judge last month restored her unemployment insurance.
“It’s certainly a start, and hopefully this helps bring to light the troubling circumstances at Casey that led to her wrongful termination,” Davis’ attorney, Nicole Joerg, told The Buffalo News.
Harassment claimed
Davis started teaching English language arts to fifth graders at Casey in 2021.
She said in court filings that she had known a fellow Casey teacher, Michael Chrites, for years. The longtime friends started dating during summer 2023, but she said she ended the relationship as the school year began that fall.
In response, Davis claims that between September 2023 and April 2024, Chrites:
• Frequently visited Davis’ classroom against her wishes, and once tried following her into a bathroom as she sought to escape him.
• Discussed the pair’s relationship and Davis’ personal life with colleagues and students at Casey, often in a way that spread “false rumors” within the school.
• Gave her unwanted gifts, including a new bicycle he dropped off at her home. When he texted Davis that it was for her birthday, she replied she wouldn’t accept it.
• Showed up several times at the dining area of the Wegmans on Sheridan Drive in Amherst where Davis conducted tutoring sessions.
• Wrote what her attorney described as “obsessive” love letters to Davis.
“I’ve told you before, you are my dream, Les, you have always been my dream,” Chrites wrote, according to a court filing.
This letter also listed 21 things to know “If you’re going to date Leslie Davis,” such as “she’s beautiful in every way beauty can exist” and “she has great hips … when she dances.”
Davis said she brought her concerns to then-Principal Ryan Harding in October 2023 and, later in the school year, to acting Principal Salvatore Curella, but nothing changed.
Laptop misuse cited
By April 2024, Davis wrote, she said she revealed to Chrites that she was seeing someone else, a disclosure that made him “very jealous and angry.”
Soon after, she wrote, some teacher colleagues began treating her coolly, making her feel “extremely uncomfortable.” She said she believed this was due to Chrites’ continued spreading of misinformation about their relationship.
“I want to feel peace and comfort in my work environment again,” she wrote in her formal complaint. “While Mike’s actions are the cause of this claim, the actions of others within the building have taken a toll.”
Davis accuses Curella of not supporting her, not taking her complaint seriously and not doing enough to ensure Chrites faced consequences for his actions. She blamed Curella’s inaction on his friendship with Chrites.
“Mr. Curella categorically denies the allegations in the lawsuit and contends that the allegations are utterly without merit,” Frank Miller, Curella’s lawyer, said in a statement. “Mr. Curella intends to vigorously resist these claims and believes that he will be fully exonerated at the conclusion of the litigation.”
Davis, in testimony, said she was told the district’s investigation had “substantiated” her claims against Chrites, but he’s since faced no punishment.
“My client categorically denies any wrongdoing and we intend on vigorously defending this case,” Chrites’ attorney, Jack Sanchez, emailed.
Davis said she was waiting to learn Williamsville’s response to her complaint when, days into the 2024-25 school year, she was placed on leave pending an investigation into her Chromebook use.
Davis privately tutors students to earn extra, outside income. She had planned, in summer 2024, to continue tutoring a student who is autistic and works best when he can type his answers instead of writing them out.
Davis said she checked with a Casey IT technician who said she could borrow her classroom’s loaner Chromebook. When Davis discovered this laptop wasn’t charging properly, the IT tech said he would give her another Chromebook instead.
Davis said she wasn’t aware of rules restricting teachers’ use of Chromebooks outside the classroom.
Later that fall, Williamsville Superintendent Darren Brown-Hall informed Davis he was recommending her termination.
His letter to Davis cited three reasons focused on Chromebook misuse and four others that included “demonstrated inability to effectively build positive relationships with faculty and staff” and “demonstrated dishonesty, duplicity and/or a lack of transparency.”
Joerg sent an eight-page letter, with 100 pages of exhibits, to School Board members urging them to overrule Brown-Hall’s recommendation. The package included letters of support from student parents and current and former colleagues and administrators.
Despite that, as well as comments of support from Joerg and others at the Nov. 12 School Board meeting, the board voted to terminate Davis.
Davis was a probationary teacher, with a lower threshold for termination than a teacher protected by tenure.
Testimony at the unemployment hearing indicated the IT technician involved in the Chromebook incident also was disciplined, but it’s unknown how. He remains a district employee.
‘Blackballed’
In February, the state Labor Department ruled Davis ineligible for unemployment benefits because she was terminated for “misconduct” connected to her employment.
She appealed the decision, leading to a series of hearings held this past summer.
Moira “Molly” Cooper, the district’s executive director of labor relations, testified that Davis violated Williamsville’s policies prohibiting personal use of district technology resources. She also said that Davis didn’t follow district procedures in requesting to use the Chromebook.
“Ms. Davis went outside of that protocol to make, apparently, a verbal or informal request for access to a Chromebook and utilized that Chromebook for her personal gain and a role not associated with the school district,” Cooper said.
School officials learned about this when the Casey Middle head custodian in July 2024 noticed the IT tech hand the Chromebook to Davis in the parking lot outside school and thought what he had seen was “out of the norm,” Cooper said.
Davis and Joerg responded there is nothing in district policy stating that personal use of a Chromebook can lead to termination.
Administrative Law Judge Stephanie Huffnagle last month ruled Davis was eligible for unemployment benefits.
A district spokesperson declined to comment, as did the president of the Williamsville Teachers Association. Davis’ civil suit, filed in January, is ongoing.
“She has been trying like crazy to get another job. Unfortunately, she’s, for lack of a better phrase, been blackballed because of the incident,” Joerg said, “because she’s been labeled as the problem, versus the victim, in this situation.”
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Stephen T. Watson
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