The Charleroi Area High School principal who was suspended for about a month last spring is leaving to become vice principal at Thomas Jefferson High School.
George Lammay accepted the position Dec. 4 at the school, part of West Jefferson Hills School District in Allegheny County. He spent about three years at Charleroi Area in Washington County.
Lammay was suspended Feb. 28 through March after reports surfaced that accused murderer John Gebauer, 16, brought a gun to school while he was a student. Lammay said he is not being forced out.
"I am leaving on my own terms," he said. "I'm not being asked to leave. This is the right time for me to make this move. Sometimes you need to."
Lammay, who also is the district's athletic director, said he was not overly anxious to leave Charleroi Area.
"Since my suspension, I have only applied for one position, and this is that position," he said. "I suppose that speaks for itself."
Gebauer, then a freshman, allegedly told police he shot and killed his adoptive mother, Alison Gebauer, Feb. 13 and then sexually assaulted her corpse. Lammay was told in March that the disciplinary action occurred because two district employees told him Gebauer brought a gun to school prior to the shooting.
Lammay, 43, said later he had no knowledge of the incident. He called the suspension "completely unjust" and considered it ill treatment.
Charleroi Area Superintendent Carol Witmyer did not return phone calls yesterday.
High school students expressed their overwhelming support for Lammay when they walked out of school March 5 in protest of their principal's suspension. They carried signs that said "We Love Lammay" and "Walk for Lammay."
The principal said most of the community supported him.
"I will always have a strong feeling for the students and the teachers at (Charleroi High) School," he said. "That's the hardest part of this thing for me to go."
At a luncheon yesterday with teachers, attendants brought a dish to commemorate Lammay's departure. "It was very nice," he said.
He said the suspension "hasn't been the primary reason" for his decision to leave. "I've obviously had a few occurrences that have been negative in nature. After my suspension, there were some difficult moments."
Lammay has kept busy with his duties as athletic director at Charleroi Area and said he has had a "fairly positive" semester.
He was "forthright" concerning his suspension in his application with West Jefferson Hills, according to West Jefferson Hills school board President David Seropian.
"We checked references and talked to others," Seropian said. "We were aware. I don't think that incident" had any bearing on the decision to hire Lammay.
Although Seropian could not be present at Lammay's interview with the board, he said Lammay "convinced us he was the right person to hire."
"I felt compelled to disclose the nature of the situation and my view on (it) because I believe in absolute honesty," Lammay said.
Lammay will receive an estimated $7,000 pay increase in his new position. He makes about $69,800 now, not including the salary he receives as athletic director, he said.
He also is thinking about working toward a doctorate while at Thomas Jefferson, since West Jefferson Hills offers improved compensation for degree advancement.
Lammay will again work with Superintendent Dr. John Lozosky, who worked with him in the same capacity at Charleroi Area in the 1999-2000 school year.
"Certainly professionally and personally, I look forward to that," Lammay said. "He's a very supportive superintendent and very knowledgeable."
Lozosky returned the praise.
"Mr. Lammay is a true leader, and he is someone who brings a very important dimension to the school," Lozosky said.
Lammay will be acting principal until the start of February, when Principal Bart Rocco returns from sabbatical.
Lammay previously spent 11 years as a teacher at Elizabeth Forward School District, Allegheny County, and was principal at Bethlehem Center High School in Washington County for one year before his hiring by Charleroi Area.
He will begin his new job Jan. 2.
