Pittsburgh schools superintendent Hamlet's resignation is official with $400K payout

The Pittsburgh Public Schools board on Tuesday formally accepted Superintendent Anthony Hamlet’s resignation, effective Oct. 1.

The board approved measures to accept the resignation and Hamlet’s severance package of nearly $400,000 which includes one year’s salary plus the value of his benefits.

Hamlet tendered his resignation Sept. 8 after the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission found the superintendent violated state ethics laws in his travel expense reports, accepting cash for speeches and failing to make required financial disclosures between 2016 and 2018.

The ethics commission ordered Hamlet to pay $5,000 — $3,250 to the district for use in the Pittsburgh Promise program and $1,750 to the ethics commission — and to forfeit 14 days of vacation time.

The complaint initiating the investigation was filed by Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb, who also serves as controller for the school district.

After the ethics commission released its findings, Lamb issued a statement calling on the district to “make appropriate changes to leadership” and after Hamlet resigned Lamb said it was “time to turn the page and move forward.”

“I believe that now is the time for my tenure to come to an end and to embark upon a new chapter of my professional life,” Hamlet wrote in his resignation letter.

Hamlet started in Pittsburgh as superintendent in 2016.

The board will consider internal candidates to serve as interim superintendent and will name a person to the post when it meets Sept 29.

A national search for a new superintendent won’t begin until December, after the school board reorganizes after the general election, when new members may be elected to the board, President Sylvia Wilson has said.