Monessen School Board accepts superintendent’s retirement
The Monessen School Board accepted the retirement of Superintendent Dr. Leanne Spazak, who is facing charges including indecent exposure and public drunkenness, and hired an interim superintendent.
The moves were unanimously approved at a meeting Tuesday night.
As part of the motion to accept Spazak’s retirement, the 90-day notice provision was waived. Her retirement takes effect Friday.
Spazak, 55, faces a number of charges after allegedly being caught engaged in a sex act in the parking lot of a Charleroi apartment complex on May 22, court records state. She faces misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure and open lewdness as well as summary offenses of disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.
Spazak was scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing July 7 before District Judge Eric Glenn Porter but waived all charges to court on Wednesday. She is scheduled for formal arraignment July 28 at the Washington County Courthouse.
Spazak worked as a teacher in the district prior to being hired as Monessen’s superintendent in 2014. In November 2020, the school board unanimously renewed her contract for five years.
Friday also is the day that Garrette L. Edmonds takes over as interim superintendent.
Edmonds is a retired educator who previously served as education coordinator for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit; former assistant principal at Gateway Middle School and in the Fort Cherry School District, and was an administrator at East Allegheny Junior-Senior High School. He also worked in the Bethlehem-Center School District.
Edmonds studied at California University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh.
School board President Doreen Smith said the position was discussed with a few candidates, but Edmonds was the only person interviewed.
Documentation regarding the hiring of Edmonds will be filed with the state Department of Education.
The board also unanimously approved an agreement with CFM Consultants LLC of Burgettstown to aid in the search for a permanent superintendent at a cost of $7,500.
Smith said no time frame has been set for the hiring of a new superintendent.