GALVESTON, Texas The principal of the county s only Catholic high school has been fired.
School board members at O Connell College Preparatory School confirmed Monday that Principal Patrick Danesi was fired Friday.
Out of respect for all the parties involved, I m not in a position to comment at this time, Board President Wayne Mallia, who also is judge of the 405th District Court, said.
Assistant Principal Patti Abbott has assumed Danesi s duties.
The board appointed Danesi in May 2008 to replace Principal Bill Doughty.
Danesi, who coaches the school s football and softball teams, did not return calls seeking comment.
The school will replace Danesi with True Cross Catholic School Principal Marc Martinez, Mallia announced in an e-mail to parents, staff and board members Friday.
Martinez will assume the role in July.
Mallia also said Danesi was removed from his post as softball coach. His status as head football coach was unclear Monday night.
Danesi was a controversial appointment from the start, particularly because he had been fired as principal of O Connell before.
Danesi said he was fired the first time he was principal because he refused to comply with the superintendent s demands that included wearing a tie three times a week and reporting to the superintendent when he left campus.
After the superintendent fired him, Danesi returned to campus as head football coach and history teacher.
After he was appointed in 2008, he met with parents and teachers to defend his qualifications and reassure parents and teachers that the school wasn t in trouble, despite its budget cuts.
After O Connell broke from the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in 2004, the school operated primarily on tuition revenues, which steadily declined as enrollment dipped to 142 by 2008 below the school s ideal enrollment of 200.
After Hurricane Ike struck Sept. 13, 2008, flooding the school at 1320 23rd St. and displacing more than a dozen students, Danesi announced that the school was in a state of trouble and needed a heap of cash to get through the school year.
The hurricane damaged the school s library, gym and school building and strained the school s finances, so much so, that the school was forced to take out loans to pay one month s payroll.
O Connell College Preparatory School eliminated positions, changed full-time teachers to part time and consolidated classes to trim personnel costs.
The school also tried to cut utility costs by turning off hallway lights during the day and shutting off the air-conditioning on mild days.
Within weeks, the school raised enough money to stay open through the end of the 2009-10 school year, Danesi announced in December 2008.
In spring 2009, Danesi led the girls softball team to win its sixth consecutive state championship, setting a Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools record.
Sports Editor Joshua Buckley contributed to this report.
