It started with someone with a good heart, willing to give a million-dollar gift to a good cause.
But a year later, the anonymous gift by an alumnus of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School in Atlanta has spiraled into a head-spinning controversy that is tearing apart the school.
The pastor of the church affiliated with the school has been asking for the name of the donor. The school principal has been refusing. That disagreement, on top of other tensions between them, resulted in Prinicpal Tricia DeWitt tendering her resignation last month.
Now parents are protesting outside the school, upset over the loss of a treasured educational leader and suspicious that the pastor, the Rev. James Schillinger, forced her out of the school.
Giving the intrigue one more twist, parents have become worried that the donor may withdraw a $1 million gift.
The anonymous donor said he gave the gift to the Immaculate Heart because of his faith in DeWitt, who has been at the school for 20 years, most of them as a teacher but the last four as principal.
"The [donor] is, putting it mildly, angry at Tricia's resignation," Tom Brennan, a parent and chairman of the School Advisory Council, said in an e-mail to a Catholic school official. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday that he has talked with the donor, who "is still in control of the money and weighing his options."
Brennan said he has tried to calm the donor and the donor is waiting to "see what happens" before he takes any action.
Some 150 parents from the school have gathered to try to save the principal's job. About a dozen protested in front of the school, located on Briarcliff Road, on Thursday and Friday. Some said they believe DeWitt was forced out of her job and they want the popular principal reinstated. Others suspected Schillinger, the pastor who they believe ousted her, pressed for the donor's identity in an effort to approach the donor for money for the church.
The controversy has raised questions as to how much anonymity should an anonymous donor receive, as well as under what circumstances a donor can pull back a monetary gift.
Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School is the educational arm of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Atlanta, which was founded by Bishop Francis Hyland in 1956. The parochial school, which opened two years later, enrolls about 500 students, from kindergarten through 8th grade. The parish maintains several outreach programs, including an HIV/AIDS ministry. Schillinger is the pastor of that church and he is empowered by the archdiocese to hire and fire school employees.
Neither DeWitt nor Schillinger could not be reached for comment Friday. A spokeswoman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta, Pat Chivers, acknowledged tensions existed between the principal and pastor. She also said that DeWitt had refused to tell Schillinger the identity of the donor. But she downplayed any link between the $1 million gift and the resignation, which occurred February 17.
"Mrs. DeWitt was not terminated from her employment with the school; neither has she been fired or forced to leave her position," Chivers said.
She said Schillinger's inquiry on the donor's identity was a "natural question" from someone who oversees the school. The $1 million donation was made a year ago in the form of a "charitable remainder unitrust." Chivers said she did not know how the trust was set up and operated. The donation was made by an alumnus of the school for an endowment aimed at expanding the school's academic leadership while maintaining its cultural diversity.
Chivers said there are no plans to reinstate DeWitt and officials have already started looking for a replacement.
In a Feb. 23 letter to parents announcing the resignation, Schillinger called DeWitt "a long-valued leader" and said he had reluctantly accepted her resignation. He offered no reason for the resignation. DeWitt will depart at the end of the school year in May, officials said.
Chivers said, "We don't have any indication that the donation is in jeopardy."
Immaculate Heart has been recognized as a "blue ribbon" school, which is key to students getting into better private high schools and then a prestigious college. Parents worried that the school may now lose some of that prestige.
E-mails exchanged over the past month, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reveal escalating tension between Schillinger and some parents.
"Here is this guy who has some wealth and wants to do a good thing, but his generosity becomes a source of conflict because people won't play nice in the sandbox," said Sal DePasquale, 60, a parent from Decatur. "I find that embarrassing."
Staff photographer John Spink and writer Katie Leslie contributed to this report.
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