Cyndi Loza

The termination of an O’Brien Middle School counselor became final Monday for impregnating one of his students more than a year ago.

The Washoe County School District notified Daniel Bryant by letter Monday of his termination, district spokesman Steve Mulvenon said. The letter also said the district has asked that his Nevada teaching and counseling licenses be revoked.

“We believe that he was absolutely manipulative,” Superintendent Paul Dugan said. “I don’t know how you defend something like this, (but) that’s up to him to deal with. We’re not defending it, and that’s why we’re terminating him.”

Dugan said Bryant met the girl, now a 19-year-old Hug High School student, when he was her counselor at Vaughn Middle School. He did not know when they met or when she had her daughter.

Bryant denied being the paternal father of the student’s child when the district investigated the allegations in November and placed him on administrative leave with pay. He was fired in January, appealed that action and was told Friday that the appeal was denied.

“We have over 7,000 employees and 99 whatever percent care appropriately about our 63,000 students,” Dugan said. “In my opinion, he did not and, unfortunately, we didn’t know that when we hired him, but as soon as we found out, we fired him.”

The district attorney’s office has been informed.