THOMAS FIRED AS JACKSON COACH

JACKSON -- Bruce Thomas is slated to be the next victim of the media coverage surrounding his affair with Cheryl Litzelfelner and the arrest of his estranged wife, Donna Thomas, for shooting Litzelfelner.

Jackson School District administrators today are expected to announce Thomas's removal as head wrestling coach at Jackson High School. A tenured faculty member, Thomas will retain his job as environmental enrichment and health teacher.

The announcement comes after members of the Jackson school board discussed the move during closed session Tuesday night after the regular, public meeting.

By law, the school board has no more than 72 hours after commencing a closed session to announce any action taken in that session. By today, board members will have taken much of that time.

Superintendent Wayne Maupin met with Thomas Wednesday afternoon to advise him of the board's decision.

Thomas declined to comment Wednesday on his meeting with Maupin.

Thomas said he has been "feeling pressure" from the school for quite some time. As a tenured faculty member, he said, administrators usually don't evaluate the teacher more than once a year. The principal was in his class three times last week, he said.

"I have been asked not to say anything all along," he said. "And I have done that. But I don't think it's helped me."

Maupin declined to comment on the specifics of the board's decision Wednesday afternoon and made no mention of the meeting with Thomas.

School board member Darrell Hanschen said the school's attorney advised all members not to comment on the closed session discussion. He said the Thursday announcement would concern Tuesday night's closed session.

The Cape Girardeau School District Board of Education dismissed Donna Thomas as a junior high teacher on Sept. 27

Cheryl Litzelfelner, a Jackson school nurse, resigned Oct. 3. Her last day with the school district is Friday.