SEQUIM — A teacher who lost his job last month for what school administrators called inappropriate behavior with students withdrew an appeal challenging his termination and surrendered his teaching certificate to the state Office of Public Instruction.
Dave Cross, for 18 years a choir teacher at Sequim High and Sequim Middle schools — and most recently director of the high school’s elite chorale groups — agreed to resign his position and drop an appeal to a state-level hearings officer, Schools Superintendent Garn Christensen said.
Cross was placed on administrative leave in January, then fired in March following a six-week formal investigation into contact with former students deemed by district officials to be inappropriate and sexually explicit.
He initially began appeals proceedings, but decided to tender his resignation and give up his teaching certificate, Christensen said.
Cross will receive full salary and benefits, totaling about $63,000, through the school year ending Aug. 31.
