It’s the sex scandal that has gripped Manhattan’s most elite circles.
A married staffer at Spence, one of the city’s most prestigious private schools, accused of having an affair with his female boss.
Their dirty laundry aired in the most humiliating of ways – a public flyer plastered to lamp posts near the ritzy campus – then devoured in group texts and Facebook groups.
Now, the Daily Mail can reveal that the married man involved is Adam Gonzaga, 35, a longtime chef.
The woman he is accused of conducting a secret relationship with is Jenna Davis, 41, the school’s Special Events and Parents Relations Manager — and his direct superior.
The two work together on special events and fundraisers and are still employed at the school, but neither has commented on the scandal engulfing them.
Davis was approached about the alleged affair by Daily Mail on Thursday as she exited school ahead of a two-week spring break.
She said nothing as she left clutching a tasteful bouquet of flowers, but smiled as her coworkers surrounded her then broke into a jog when questioned about her alleged affair.
Jenna Davis, 41, and and Adam Gonzaga, 35, are seen together on March 5. His wife says she discovered the selfie on his phone after suspecting he was having an affair
Davis is Spence’s Special Events and Parents Relations Manager. She was seen leaving the school yesterday grinning and clutching a bouquet of flowers. When confronted about the alleged affair by our reporter, she and her friends ran away
Gonzaga was not seen at the school.
It was his furious father-in-law who exposed his alleged affair to the world.
The family learned of his alleged indiscretion – for the second time – when his wife checked his phone and, allegedly, found nude photographs of Davis along with a damning selfie the pair took at a work event.
In the picture, the pair beam towards the camera like a cozied up couple.
‘They were on a very public date, in front of everyone,’ said a source.
The scandal has now exploded in private moms’ groups, where parents go between devouring the gossip – to worrying about its impact.
Now, some of those who send their kids to the $70,000-a-year institution are demanding answers.
In a private Facebook chat group called Moms of the Upper East Side, which has over 55,000 members, one parent wrote: ‘It’s all the kids are talking about…. it’s a terrible example for young girls.
‘In the very least, if the affair is verified, these people should be fired. Workplace romance isn’t allowed in most corporate offices because it distracts workers and causes power imbalance…but it’s ok to normalize to our kids?’
Spence has repeatedly refused to comment on the matter.
The ritzy school counts Gwyneth Paltrow, Kerry Washington, Emmy Rossum, Georgina Bloomberg, Anna Wintour’s daughter Bee Shaffer and makeup mogul Aerin Lauder as alumni.
‘Everyone knows who they are now,’ one Upper East Side mother who runs in Spence circles said.
Gonzaga, pictured with his wife, is still working at the school as a chef. She now plans to file for divorce
It all began with this flyer, plastered to lamp posts on the Upper East Side, near the Spence school. Daily Mail can reveal it was Gonzaga’s father-in-law who posted the flyers around the school campus
The alleged affair was first exposed when a chilling anonymous letter, signed ‘Regretfully, J’, arrived in the mail addressed to Gonzaga’s wife. The Daily Mail has seen and read the letter in full
‘This isn’t gossip anymore, it’s a workplace scandal at the best private school in the city. Parents are asking how this was allowed to happen.’
She said she’s even heard talk that some parents are considering pulling future donations if the school fails to respond.
‘If this were any corporate office, there would be consequences immediately,’ she said. ‘Why is a school any different?’
Meanwhile, the personal fallout is proving even more devastating.
Gonzaga’s wife – who shares a three-year-old son with him – has retained a lawyer and plans to file for divorce. This is the second time Gonzaga and Davis were caught in an alleged affair.
Gonzaga and his wife, 29, met in 2015 at a gym. They married at the height of COVID in 2020 and renewed their vows in front of family and friends in 2022.
Barely a year later, Gonzaga is said to have embarked on an affair with his colleague.
In February, he was busted when his wife found a second wave of explicit messages and nude photos in his phone.
‘There’s no coming back from this,’ said the first source. ‘She gave him another chance once. He lied to everyone. There is no more forgiveness.’
The alleged affair was first exposed when a chilling anonymous letter, signed ‘Regretfully, J’, arrived in the mail addressed to Gonzaga’s wife. The Daily Mail has seen and read the letter in full.
Davis (pictured with a friend on Thursday) appeared as though she had not a care in the world as she left the campus this week
The lengthy typewritten letter started off with, ‘I understand you may not want to hear from me.’
She described herself as ‘the other woman’ and continued to tell her, ‘I feel you deserve to know the truth.’
She proceeded to share that her husband did not wear his wedding ring. He told her it was ‘complicated’ and then told him to return when ‘it was not.’
She wrote, ‘this seemed to motivate him to try even harder to convince and seduce me.’
She admitted that ‘against her better judgement,’ she ‘eventually gave in.’ She continued, ‘if you ever wondered where he was on Thanksgiving night, he spent it with me. We also shared Christmas together. In January, we had a pregnancy scare.’
‘When I said I would keep the baby, he assured me he would stay by my side. It was at that point that I insisted he make a decision and be honest with you,’ she wrote.
The prestigious Spence School on East 91st Street counts actresses and stars among alumni
The wife kicked him out that very night, but decided a few weeks later she’d give it another chance.
According to her family, the husband begged her forgiveness and the two entered couples therapy for a year. She believed they were going to overcome the affair and make it work.
Now, the family believes Gonzaga and Davis are ‘shacked up’ together somewhere.
Neither Gonzaga nor Davis has responded to multiple requests for comment.
