User:Jfredenburg

Stephen Leith is a former chemistry teacher at Chelsea High School. Leith was nominated several years in a row for Chelsea High’s best teacher. Leith taught for the Chelsea, Michigan district for 15 years, he was well liked by the students and faculty. Leith was known to butt heads with administration, however it never interfered with his teaching abilities. On December 16, 1993 Mr. Leith’s life would change forever. The day started off like any other day would. He reported to school on time and conducted class as usual. Leith was asked to come to a meeting with Chelsea School Superintendent Joseph Piasecki. The meeting took place at the end of the school day. This meeting was to serve as an informal grievance hearing about his conduct with students. Leith was accused of sexual harassment by a student. The superintendent, union steward, high school principal and an English teacher were present in the meeting. Leith apparently was angered by the allegations and stormed out of the office. His wife Alice Leith, who was an English teacher at Chelsea High, was not far from the meeting in her classroom. He marched into her room and commanded “we’re leaving,"  	Alice’s testimony was recorded by The Ann Arbor News on August 6, 1994. Her testimony was as follows: He was angry and he peeled out of the lot ridiculously fast. I asked him to slow down, he was scarring me. I told him when we got home we’d call an Michigan Education Association representative and he said he “was done talking to people”	When we got home, he poured me a cup of coffee and I started to make the call. The administration’s secret file on Steve was open on the kitchen table and I pointed out to Steve one section. He looked at it and stiffened, went into a rigid stance. He said “that’s it! He’s going to die.” He spun around and jogged upstairs in an unnatural gait . Alice called the union representative’s assistant and said that she was concerned that her husband might harm someone. 	Leith came back downstairs got in his vehicle and drove back to the high school. Alice, his wife, left right afterwards hoping to meet him at the school to head him off. She was delayed by bus traffic. By the time Alice had arrived at the school Steve was walking down the walkway towards the administration building. She parked and went into the building. As she entered she heard multiple shots being fired. Without any regard for her own safety she entered the office where the shots came from and witnessed the tragedy. The Chelsea High School superintendent had multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. He later died at Chelsea Community Hospital. High school principal Ronald Mead with a gunshot wound to his leg shattering his femur bone and English teacher Phil Jones with a grazed wound to the abdomen. This was one of the worst tragedies in the city of Chelsea’s history. Not to mention that this horrific action took place just one day prior to the districts Christmas break. Leith is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in the Carson City Correctional Facility in Carson City, Michigan His wife Alice Leith lost her battle with cancer in 1995. Principal Ronald Mead recently retired from Chelsea High School and Phil Jones is currently serving as a journalism teacher at Chelsea High.

History
In Steve Leith's earlier years it was said that he was suffering from extreme depression. In the book, Managing Violence in the Workplace the writer records some interesting facts about Leith’s past. The records show that in the mid 1980’s, Leith’s depression brought on several suicidal tendencies, daily vomiting, violent fits of temper, fits of weeping and boycott of holiday celebrations. In one instance, Leith threatened to kill his own wife for misquoting him in a phone conversation. For her own safety she spent the holidays with relatives in another city. She kept a bag packed in case she needed to leave home suddenly do to her husband’s frequent fits of rage. During this time Steve began to collect guns. When police searched his home they found 10 guns and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition. His hair went from being neatly cut to growing it very long and placing it into a pony tail. He began to kill small birds and animals in a gruesome manner. His behavior at school became more erratic with chronic mood changes. These behaviors culminated in the shooting.