MORE: Southern Lehigh also to consider new superintendent contract
UPPER SAUCON TWP., Pa. — Southern Lehigh school directors will vote Monday on a settlement agreement for its suspended Human Resources Director Ethan Ake-Little, whose resignation also is listed on the meeting's agenda.
The school board meets at 6:30 p.m. in Southern Lehigh High School’s boardroom.
LehighValleyNews.com confirmed the settlement agreement is for Ake-Little by the employee identification number listed on the human resources report. Ake-Little’s name is not listed.
Ake-Little declined to comment for this article.
LehighValleyNews.com had access to Ake-Little’s ID number from previously obtained documents related to discrimination, retaliation and fraud complaints that Ake-Little made against former Superintendent Michael Mahon, who has since publicly pushed back against those claims.
The documents previously were shared with LehighValleyNews.com by a source on the condition of anonymity.
‘Negative disparate treatment’
The documents outline the complaints and findings:
Ake-Little, 39, said Mahon, 57, targeted him with “misleading and persecutory” reprimands, starting in April 2024.
The HR director started in his role in August 2023.
Ake-Little, who is Indian-American and married to a same-sex partner, also took issue with an unsatisfactory performance evaluation he received from Mahon.
Ake-Little said the superintendent "deliberately chose to neglect the vast bulk” of his achievements and gave him “negative disparate treatment” in how his evaluation was conducted compared with that of his heterosexual, white peers.
An internal district investigation conducted by an attorney found there was insufficient evidence that Mahon discriminated against Ake-Little, but that the performance actions taken against him were unjustified.
As a result, the letters of reprimand and unsatisfactory evaluation were removed from Ake-Little’s personnel file, and he was granted a retroactive raise.
Complaints escalated
Ake-Little later filed another internal complaint against Mahon, saying the superintendent retaliated against him for his initial discrimination complaint.
Ake-Little said Mahon falsely accused him of wrongdoing, excluded him from tasks related to his HR role and made “inappropriate accusations” related to Ake-Little’s paid time off.
An attorney who investigated the matter found “multiple performance deficiency issues on the part of Dr. Mahon,” but that the evidence did not amount to retaliation.
Mahon instead exercised “extreme caution” to avoid the “appearance of retaliation” and involved legal counsel to an extent he may not have otherwise, the attorney found.
Ake-Little escalated his concerns about Mahon and the school district to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Ake-Little filed a discrimination and retaliation complaint there, citing instances of “harassing behavior.”
The district was served Ake-Little’s PHRC complaint in May, and its response was due July 23.
Ake-Little also filed an internal fraud complaint against Mahon in November 2024 related to the superintendent’s “calculation and payroll disbursement of [fiscal year 2025] administrator salaries.”
An attorney investigating the fraud complaint for the district found no evidence of fraud, but noted “multiple performance deficiency issues on the part of Dr. Mahon in connection with the fraud allegations.”
HR director suspended
Following his complaints, Ake-Little was suspended with pay in June and given a separation agreement for consideration that would have released the district from all claims Ake-Little made against it — even as his state and federal discrimination and retaliation complaints remain pending.
Substitute Superintendent Karen Trinkle signed Ake-Little’s suspension letter, which alleged he displayed “incompetence,” "intemperance,” "willful neglect” of duties and “improper conduct.”
When asked Sunday about Ake-Little’s suspension, as well as the proposed resignation and settlement, Trinkle said she is “not at liberty” to discuss them.
LehighValleyNews.com reached out to Southern Lehigh School Board President Stephen Maund for comment, too.
School directors also will vote Monday on whether to appoint Trinkle as superintendent, granting her a five-year contract with a $190,000 starting salary.
Her appointment would take effect immediately and the contract would end June 30, 2030.
Trinkle, Southern Lehigh’s assistant superintendent, has been serving as the district’s interim leader since March because former Superintendent Mahon was put on administrative leave.
Mahon’s leave came after the former school board president publicly criticized him for “poor leadership" in February.
He subsequently agreed to resign last month. School directors approved separation and release agreements for him at their July 29 meeting.
At the same meeting, Mahon publicly called allegations against him “profoundly unfair.”
Mahon did not specifically reference Ake-Little in his comments.
When LehighValleyNews.com previously asked Mahon for a comment on Ake-Little’s complaints, he directed a reporter to a joint news release from himself and the school board.
It said “a number of inappropriate and unfounded public statements and disclosures led to mischaracterizations of Dr. Mahon’s leadership.”
However, some school directors said they did not agree with the contents of the news release before it was ultimately approved by a 5-4 vote.
