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Spring Grove Area SD board accepts superintendent Joseph Bradley’s resignation and appoints Dr. David Renault amid dispute over separation agreement
Summary
The Spring Grove Area School District board accepted Superintendent Joseph Bradley’s voluntary resignation effective at the end of his leave and approved Dr. David Renault as substitute superintendent (retroactive to 08/18/2025). Some directors opposed a separate separation/release agreement and asked for more information before approving severance.
The Spring Grove Area School District board on Aug. 25 accepted Superintendent Joseph Bradley’s voluntary resignation effective upon exhaustion of his accrued leave and approved Dr. David Renault to serve as substitute superintendent retroactive to Aug. 18, 2025.
The board’s solicitor recommended the board accept Bradley’s resignation and noted the circumstances of that resignation “have no connection whatsoever to the circumstances that occurred last summer after his hire,” a point he put on the record as part of the personnel discussion. Several board members said they supported ending Bradley’s employment but objected to approving a separate separation and release agreement without fuller information. One director said, “I cannot support providing him with a severance package without a full understanding of his actions.”
Public commenters pressed the board for transparency in hiring and oversight. Kathy Gross, a retired Spring Grove teacher, criticized how the prior superintendent was hired and asked, “If he is resigning before he's fulfilled his contract, why must we pay him for his leave? He has not earned it.” Parent Nikki Myers told the board that community and staff had warned about the prior hire and urged a more open, exhaustive search for Bradley’s replacement.
The personnel packet approved other routine hires, transfers and substitute postings. The record shows the board separated the specific agenda item labeled c3 (the separation/release agreement) for a separate roll-call vote; multiple members voted no on that provision or asked for more time and an executive session. The meeting proceeded with roll-call votes approving the other personnel actions and the appointment of Dr. Renault to serve in the interim while the board conducts a permanent search.
The board did not provide detailed terms of the contested separation/release agreement in the meeting transcript, and several directors expressly said they lacked sufficient information to support authorizing severance. The solicitor and board leadership warned that rejecting the separation could prompt litigation and potentially higher costs if personnel issues were litigated publicly.
Next steps: the board has an interim superintendent in place and indicated it will begin a search for a permanent replacement; questions about the terms of the separation agreement remain unresolved in the meeting record.
