Laurel Highlands superintendent abruptly resigns
Wallace: \\\'It felt like time to retire\\\'
Laurel Highlands School District Superintendent Jesse Wallace announced his immediate retirement from the district Thursday afternoon.
Wallace notified district staff by e-mail near the end of school Thursday, calling them a “great group of people.” He said he had appreciated his more than 23 years of serving district students, staff and community.
In an interview Friday afternoon, Wallace said, “It felt like time to retire.”
“I really enjoyed working with the students throughout the years,” he said. “Over the last five years, I’ve had some medical issues that have prevented me from being as mobile as I have been in the past, and so I didn’t get to know as many students as I used to. But taking into consideration a bunch of factors and just looking at what was best for me, it was just time for me to do that.”
Wallace had come under fire from community members in recent months after the arrests of former high school teachers Martin Gatti and Daniel Cervone who are accused of sexual misconduct.
Wallace’s contract was set to expire at the end of the 2026-27 school year. In August, the district board voted 6-3 to rescind the last three years of Wallace’s contract extension, which was to run through 2030.
The board had also been critical of Wallace in its most recent evaluation, where a majority of members gave him failing marks in the area of communication and community relations.
Wallace signed the evaluation “under protest and disagreement,” he said in a notice accompanying the evaluation.
At October’s board meeting, members said they had received an early synopsis of a report from the MBM law firm, which the board had commissioned to perform an independent review of the district’s mandatory reporting practices.
Wallace would not directly comment on whether the recent board actions had played a part in his decision to retire, saying only, “It was the right thing for me to do.”
Wallace said he isn’t sure yet if he will seek another job.
“I’m just trying to get my feet on the ground and get my sea legs with what the retirement life is like, and that’s nothing that I’m used to,” he said. “I’m used to working a lot, so right now it’s just a work in progress.”
Wallace said he hoped he would be remembered as “someone who cared about the students, cared about the staff, and cared about the community, and gave 100% every day, and put in a grind every day to make the district better.”
In a statement posted on social media shortly after Wallace’s announcement, the Laurel Highlands district thanked Wallace for “his years of dedicated service to the students, staff, and community of Laurel Highlands.”
The board has begun the search for an interim superintendent, the district said in a statement. For now, administrative responsibilities are being split between Curriculum and Instruction Director Randy Miller and Assistant Superintendent Jessica Scott.