Laurel Highlands School District superintendent abruptly retires
There's an abrupt leadership change at Laurel Highlands School District in Fayette County, where parents have been demanding answers about who was protecting their children after two educators were arrested and a third employee was fired.
Superintendent Dr. Jesse Wallace has retired effective immediately. Now the administrators taking over have to earn back the trust of parents who are fed up and demanding change.
Restoring trust at Laurel Highlands starts with how the district handles its next problem. Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jessica Scott says families deserve honest answers.
"Moving forward, I think it's very important; I'm a very upfront person, as is Randy (Miller)," Scott said. "We just got to be honest. We have to be very transparent with anything that happens in the district."
"Both of us want to be proactive and address things head-on before anything happens," Scott added.
That commitment follows months of anger over allegations against school staff. Teacher Martin Gatti and JROTC instructor Daniel Cervone were arrested in March in separate cases involving alleged sexual misconduct with students. A third employee was later fired after an investigation into alleged inappropriate behavior involving a former student.
Parents packed board meetings, questioning how complaints were handled and demanding that Wallace resign as superintendent.
"We've already provided training for staff and we're going to continue to provide more training for our staff," said Randy Miller, the director of curriculum and instruction. "We're going to continue to make sure that everybody knows what their role is and what they need to do moving forward."
Now with Wallace's retirement effective immediately, Scott and Miller are handling administrative duties while the board searches for a superintendent. But their responsibility goes beyond keeping the district running. They have to reach families who have publicly said they've lost confidence in its leadership.
"Everybody's voice, everybody's concern, we have to take into consideration and when you're dealing with someone's kids and underage kids, that is our No. 1 priority to make sure they feel safe in school and they feel heard," Scott said.
What happens next will show whether that trust can be rebuilt.
"And we'll do that by listening, by making prudent decisions, by developing effective procedures and policies in place to ensure that we're covering everything we need to," Miller said.
The district thanked Wallace for his years of service, but did not explain why his retirement took effect immediately. His contract had been set to expire next summer.
