EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was updated after publication with comment by Ethan Ake-Little, the district's suspended human resources director who filed complaints against the former superintendent.
UPPER SAUCON TWP., Pa. — Southern Lehigh School Board nixed the district's superintendent Tuesday in a heated special meeting, agreeing to pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars to resign.
That’s after public board critiques of his leadership and internal investigations into his conduct over the past year.
Meanwhile, the now-former superintendent said claims about his work have been inaccurate and unfair.
School directors voted 5-4 to approve a separation agreement and a mutual general release agreement between Southern Lehigh School District and now-former Superintendent Michael Mahon.
Both agreements went into effect immediately.
The mutual general release agreement contended to resolve both parties of potential legal claims against each other.
Per both agreements, Mahon will be paid more than $246,000 — that includes checks to Mahon and a district contribution to his retirement fund based on unused vacation days.
Additionally, his attorneys will get $25,000 to cover legal fees.
However, one school director said the value of Mahon’s separation package is closer to half a million dollars when taking into account other benefits, such as continued health care coverage.
The same school director called into question the legality of Mahon’s separation agreement terms, and said he’s being overpaid.
Director: illegality, overpayment
School Director Emily Gehman said approving the separation and general mutual release agreements was an “act of gross negligence.”
She said Mahon’s payout valuation was illegal based on state law and Mahon’s own contract.
In response, school board President Stephen Maund said the board consults legal counsel for “every step of everything that we do.”
“To state that we are dealing with these issues in an illegal way is not something that somebody who is not a lawyer should say."Stephen Maund, Southern Lehigh School Board President
“To state that we are dealing with these issues in an illegal way is not something that somebody who is not a lawyer should say,” Maund said.
Based on her calculations, Gehman told LehighValleyNews.com, the total value of Mahon’s separation and general mutual release agreements is about $470,000.
That takes into account all payout amounts to Mahon and his lawyers, as well as Mahon’s benefits, such as health care coverage.
Mahon’s separation agreement provides him with health care coverage until he reaches age 65 or becomes eligible for Medicare, as per an amendment to his contract.
Mahon is 57.
However, Gehman said Mahon should not legally receive that coverage because it is a retirement benefit, and he has not retired.
Mahon told LehighValleyNews.com Tuesday he may consider retiring from the public school system, but he’s “still looking for what’s next” and new opportunities.
Per section 1073 of the Pennsylvania Public School Code, there are rules for negotiated severance agreements that take effect less than two years before the end of a superintendent’s contract.
Their payout, including noncash benefits, can’t exceed half their total compensation for the remainder of the term.
Mahon’s contract was set to expire June 30, 2026. His annual salary as of the 2024-25 school year was $194,781, according to state data.
Gehman said based on her calculations, Mahon’s severance package, including all benefits, should only have had a valuation of $143,798.25 — much less than what he’s getting based on the approved agreements.
Additionally, she said the district overpaid Mahon for his salary payout by about $3,700 and for his vacation time by 16 days.
Per the separation agreement, Mahon’s salary payout was $93,644.83. The district agreed not to take out withholdings and deductions.
Gehman said that means the district also is on the hook for about $30,000 in federal payroll taxes and retirement payments.
Mahon’s vacation payout was $41,796.81. Of that total, the maximum allowable amount is to be deposited in Mahon’s retirement account and the rest paid to Mahon via check.
Gehman said it’s against the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s tax rules to put the vacation payout funds into a retirement account.
Additionally, she argued the way the mutual general release agreement is written still allows Mahon to sue the district, which is contrary to the document's purpose.
Critiques of former superintendent
Before Tuesday's meeting, Mahon had been on administrative leave for five months, after the former board president critiqued his performance publicly, saying he demonstrated “poor leadership.”
Over the past year, Mahon also was the subject of discrimination, retaliation and fraud complaints made by a district employee who reported to him. Those complaints have been covered by local news organizations.
When LehighValleyNews.com contacted Mahon on Monday about the discrimination, retaliation and fraud complaints, he directed a reporter to a joint news release between him and the district that since was approved by the school board.
It said Mahon’s leadership has been inaccurately portrayed in the public in recent months.
In his Tuesday statements at the board meeting, Mahon said he never asked for a settlement agreement, but rather had wanted to respond to what he viewed as “profoundly unfair allegations” against him.
He said he wanted to do so in a public forum in a “positive and interactive way.”
“It was my impression that [the separation agreement] is something the board very much wanted to do,” he said.
He said there was confusion and a lack of communication behind the scenes as he and the district negotiated.
Mahon also said he was grateful to the school board, students, community members and former colleagues for his time with the district.
School directors vote
School directors were split Tuesday on Mahon’s performance during his tenure in the district, which began in August 2021.
School directors who supported Mahon’s work in Southern Lehigh voted to approve the separation and general release agreements, which were signed by him before Tuesday’s meeting.
School directors who were critical of Mahon mostly voted against the agreements, citing concerns about transparency around their development and about overpaying Mahon at the expense of taxpayers and students.
Board President Maund and school directors Nicole King, Mary Joy Reinartz, Melissa Torba and Christopher Wayock voted to approve the agreements.
Board Vice President Candi Kruse and directors Gehman, Eric Boyer and Timothy Kearney voted against the agreements.
Before casting her vote, Director Reinartz praised Mahon’s leadership in the district, pointing to his work negotiating for a new turf athletic field, making district building improvements and other accomplishments.
“He restored reading programs, he built curriculum with the new curriculum director,” Reinartz said. “He hired an amazing assistant superintendent who’s done a stellar job.
“And most of the administration, I say, has done a great job holding everything together despite this board dysfunction.”
Director Wayock also said Mahon did a “fantastic job” as superintendent, but he decided it wasn’t in the best interest of the district and students for Mahon to return to his role at this point.
“When you are the CEO of a large company, you can’t keep everyone happy,” he said. “And I understand some people do not like certain people’s leadership style.
"But just because you don’t like the leadership style does not mean that you put him on leave and you do all these investigations.”
Wayock said discrimination, retaliation and fraud complaints against Mahon were part of a “witch hunt,” and he noted attorneys said the complaints were “unfounded.”
Investigating complaints against Mahon
Southern Lehigh Human Resources Director Ethan Ake-Little, who currently is suspended with pay, filed multiple complaints against Mahon at the district, state and federal level over the past year for discrimination, retaliation and fraud, according to documents obtained by LehighValleyNews.com.
Attorneys hired by the district to investigate the matters found there wasn’t sufficient evidence for the discrimination, retaliation or fraud claims, but they determined in each case that Mahon took “unjustified” actions or exhibited “performance deficiency issues."
Director Kearney said the investigations into Mahon’s actions led the board to ask its attorney to negotiate a separation agreement.
“The charges were unfounded, but there were some other things found,” he said.
Kearney also expressed concerns about a letter of recommendation provided to Mahon by the district, as well as a joint news release between Mahon and the district.
“If that was the case, we wouldn’t be looking for a separation."Timothy Kearney, Southern Lehigh School Director
Both were included as part of the agreements voted on Tuesday. They were made public Monday before the board voted.
Kearney said the only “negative reason” cited for the separation was the leak of information to reporters; the investigation outcomes weren’t noted in full.
The news release states: “Earlier this year, the district undertook an external review of certain employment matters. That review affirmed Dr. Mahon’s professional judgment and conduct.
“The Board acknowledges that a number of inappropriate and unfounded public statements and disclosures led to mischaracterizations of Dr. Mahon’s leadership.”
Additionally, Kearney said Mahon’s letter of recommendation “looked like a resume of greatest hits.”
“If that was the case, we wouldn’t be looking for a separation,” he said.
The letter said Mahon’s leadership led to budget surpluses, facilities improvements, a successful elementary literacy initiative and the expansion of dual enrollment opportunities for high school students.
In a Wednesday statement, HR Director Ake-Little also criticized the joint news release and Mahon's letter of recommendation.
Ake-Little took issue with sections that said an external review "affirmed Dr. Mahon's professional judgment and conduct" and that he was "fully cleared of any wrongdoing."
AKe-Little wrote: "This statement is at odds with the findings of the independent investigators hired by the district and, as reported by your outlet, that while these complaints were not substantiated, the investigators did find that [Mahon] took 'unjustified' actions or had 'performance deficiency issues.'"
Ake-Little also said a board decision to reverse disciplinary actions Mahon took against the HR director still stands.
"If the Board's public stance is that Dr. Mahon was fully cleared and his professional judgment affirmed, they should be consistent and honor his right to employment," Ake- Little said.
Lack of communication with counsel
Director Boyer also disagreed with the news release approved by the board.
He took specific issue with a line that said school directors give their "unequivocal affirmation of [Mahon’s] performance, integrity and professional conduct.”
“I think the board unequivocally agrees Mike Mahon is not the person suited to lead this district [and] take it to the next level,” he said. “That I would agree unequivocally suffices.”
Boyer said he didn’t have input into the details of the news release.
“That does not reflect me,” he said of the document.
Boyer and others also questioned why the news release was posted online ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, before board approval.
John Freund, an attorney for the district, said he discussed the news release with Mahon’s attorney and the school board’s president.
Boyer once again called to replace the district’s solicitor. He did so at a meeting last month, too, for similar reasons.
Boyer has repeatedly questioned why the solicitor does not communicate with all school directors when he drafts documents for the district.
Freund said negotiations aren’t conducted by working directly with the full board of nine school directors. Instead, board leadership is consulted, he said.
Director Torba said she trusts the solicitor to review necessary documents for the district.
“It is not for us to run the day-to-day operations,” she said. “We are the guardrails to ensure our district is moving forward.”
Next steps
Board President Maund said school directors have begun professional development to “stop some of the animosity” amongst the board. They will continue training on the subject.
“Will that fix everything? No, of course not," he said. "But it’s a start to get back to business.
“We need to get back to [the] business of educating students and supporting the administration, staff and other stakeholders in this school district.”
For now, Assistant Superintendent Karen Trinkle will continue as substitute superintendent, Maund told LehighValleyNews.com.
There is no timeline to hire a new permanent superintendent, but that process will begin “in due course,” he said.
