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As Bad Axe Superintendent James Wencel and school board attorney Martha Marcero explained at the meeting, Heffelfinger signed a Last Chance Agreement in early June 2007 to avoid having tenure charges brought against him. In doing so, Heffelfinger waived his rights under the teacher agreement and his tenure rights. A letter of resignation was attached to the document, which the board had the right to accept at any time until June 2010, if they feel he had violated any terms of the agreement.

At the meeting, Wencel listed what he felt were 13 violations from Heffelfinger, including:

1) Failed to comply with Agreement to receive anger management in a timely fashion; 2) Confrontation with student in cafetorium (on) April 1,2008; 3) Confrontation with counselor in front of students in the cafetorium; 4) Violations of acceptable use and inappropriate use of school computer (going to e-bay.com, match.com, badjocks.com and funkyboutique.com; putting student photos on match.com, inappropriate use of prep time for personal business and using district resources for purchasing posters and clothing); 5) Call Jr. High students "stinky, stupid and retarded" on October 2007; 6) Actively engaging students in personnel dispute with district; 7) Using student band concerts for self aggrandizment; 8) Improper posters and displays in the classroom; 9) Excessive absenteeism of 26 days in 07-08 school year; 10) Violations of school board fundraising policy for purchase and/or rental of equipment; 11)Failure to obtain preapproval of band performances as directed; 12) Failure to follow board policies/Admistrative guidelines and Teacher handbook (late to classroom, leaving building without permission, failure to submit lesson plans, etc.); 13) Unprofessional judgement and poor role mode..."lacks mature and ethical conduct to be a professional teacher."

When Heffelfinger got his chance to answer the charges, which followed public comment and a closed-session meeting with Wencel and the school board, he began by addressing a chronology of events that had been prepared dating back to August of 1998 when he applied for a job in the school district.

"This case starts with the Last Chance Agreement and everything before that is inadmissable," he said. He pointed out that only 3 1/2 pages of the 16 page document, where from instances or notes from when John Males and Tom Palmer were in charge. During that time frame, 32 items were listed in the chronology. Heffelfinger stated that once Wayne Brady and Jim Wencel took over, things changed dramatically, noting the next 12 1/2 pages were filled with items from January 2002 to present day. A copy of the document obtained by the Huron County Press shows there were 144 "events" listed on the chronology during that time period. "I'm very offended this was sent to board members to make me look bad," he said. "It is a desperate attempt to make me look bad as a teacher."

He followed by addressing an item on page 11 of the document, which was dated March 26, 2007 and read, "Police incident-threat to smash penis-wants out of band." It was followed by an item on March 27, 2007, which read, "Told male student going to smash his penis." Heffelfinger questioned the validity of the entry and denied that any such instance ever occurred. He later insisted that 14 pornographic images of two naked men found on his hard drive where not his. He noted the files had no dates or no file names and according to his computer expert, they could have been on the computer before he got it.

As for the question of visiting inappropriate sites, Heffelfinger explained that visiting e-bay (to make band purchases) or match.com were not violations of the teacher handbook. As for the more questionable sites, he explained that absolutepictures.com, a site he visited for school use, was a "direct link" to lovehappens.com and that he visited a United Kingdom site looking for velvet jeans for a band concert, which was a direct link to "kinkyangel.com." Heffelfinger explained a computer expert he spoke with explained a direct link can be downloaded by a site while you are not even at that particular site. He noted if these items came before an arbitrator, the school would be "going into dangerous waters legally."

He added, "I take this kind of stuff pretty seriously." Heffelfinger noted these type of allegations (accessing pornography) could "ruin the rest of my teaching career." After finishing his defense, the board went into closed session (without Wencel) for nearly an hour, before emerging to vote on the resolution. Upon learning of the decision, a shocked Heffelfinger said goodbye to students, as many tears were shed.

While he was having difficulty speaking due to the emotion of the situation, he did tell the media he will take this to arbitration. According to Heffelfinger's union representative John Folsom, the two sides will work together to mutually select an arbitrator at this point. While Heffelfinger had 10 days to make his decision to seek arbitration, Folsom anticipated that intention would be made official early this week on Monday.

Wencel explained the opening for band director would be posted immediately and filled, but had nofurther comment.