‘Explode spectacularly’: Strife-torn Hillcrest Christian College’s sacked COO vows legal action

A strife-torn Christian college has been plunged into more turmoil with the sacking of a key executive. He says he lost his job over “totally trumped-up” allegations of bullying and has vowed that the matter will “explode spectacularly”.

Hillcrest Christian College has been further rocked by the sacking of its chief operating officer.

A STRIFE-torn Gold Coast Christian college has been plunged into more turmoil after sacking its chief operating officer, whose daughter is the school captain.

Ray Deetlefs, who was one of two staff members recently stood down by Hillcrest Christian College over allegations of misconduct, was told today he had been issued with a termination notice.

He said he had been sacked over ‘totally trumped-up’ allegations of bullying levelled after he raised serious concerns with the college board about the school’s multimillion-dollar operations.

An emotional Mr Deetlefs said he and his wife were ‘in tears’ after the sacking and vowed legal action.

“I intend to fight this vigorously and have engaged lawyers,” he told The Courier-Mail.

“This is not going to go away. I won’t let this go unchallenged. This is going to explode spectacularly.

“My lawyers have told me this case is very winnable. We are going into this gunfight with all the ammunition.”

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Mr Deetlefs said he was stood down in May over 13 “bulls. t” allegations of bullying after raising concerns with the school board about issues including the establishment of a controversial private company headed by college principal Jeff Davis and senior board members.

Hillcrest Christian College principal Jeff Davis.

The company, I Love Reading Pty Ltd, was set up to commercialise a phonetic reading program with the help of hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans from school funds.

The Baptist Church-run school recently announced the $1 million-plus sale of ILR to a Hong Kong-based company ‘to recover its investment in developing the program and achieve a surplus to reinvest in the college’.

Mr Deetlefs was issued with a ‘show-cause’ notice last week before being sacked today for ‘serious misconduct’.

The sacking of Mr Deetlefs is the latest scandal to rock Hillcrest after he and another staff member were stood down in May and bullying allegations were made against Mr Davis.

The State Government’s Non-State Schools Accreditation Board launched an inquiry and the Independent Education Union called for the appointment of an independent investigator to look into allegations of staff bullying.

The school’s former chairman was dumped at a heated annual meeting in May and concerned parents and staff have been demanding answers.

Mr Deetlefs, whose daughter is a senior school captain at Hillcrest, said he and his wife had to re-mortgage their home to pay bills, including legal fees, as a result of the school’s ‘adverse action’ against him.

“My wife and I have been in tears,” he said.

“It (his sacking) wasn’t unexpected but it still came as a shock. I’ve never had something like this happen to me before. It’s unbelievable.”

Mr Davis has been contacted for comment.

In May, he told staff he was ‘completely overwhelmed’ with the crisis and was ‘seeking God’s wisdom’, and called on them to pray ‘that the truth will be revealed’.

Originally published as ‘Explode spectacularly’: Strife-torn Hillcrest Christian College’s sacked COO vows legal action