{"id":255587,"date":"2026-07-30T16:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255587\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T16:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:04:07","slug":"pittsburgh-public-schools-chief-of-staff-resigns-amid-allegations-of-choking-his-girlfriend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255587\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Public Schools&#8217; chief of staff resigns amid allegations of choking his girlfriend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pittsburgh Public Schools announced on Thursday that, amid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/pittsburgh\/news\/lamar-blackwell-pittsburgh-public-schools-assault-charges\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">allegations<\/a>\u00a0that he choked his girlfriend, Chief of Staff Lamar Blackwell has resigned his position.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We respect Mr. Blackwell&#8217;s decision to resign and his desire to act in the best interests of the District,&#8221; said Superintendent Dr. Wayne Walters in a statement provided to KDKA-TV. &#8220;Our focus remains on continuing the important work of serving our students and school communities.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Blackwell submitted his resignation on Thursday, and it takes effect immediately.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, the continued public attention surrounding the pending legal matter involving me has created a level of distraction that has significantly impacted my ability to effectively carry out the responsibilities of my position,&#8221; his statement read. &#8220;While I remain confident that this matter would ultimately be resolved, the ongoing media coverage and resulting public scrutiny have increasingly shifted attention away from the important work of the District. I recognize the strain this situation has placed on the administration and the Board, and I believe stepping aside is the most responsible course of action in the best interests of the District.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh Public Schools has maintained its position that it will not comment on pending legal proceedings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Blackwell was charged with strangulation and simple assault after allegedly grabbing his girlfriend by her wrist and choking her on April 4, according to the criminal complaint. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Once police arrived on the scene, they spoke with Blackwell, who said nothing had happened, and claimed his girlfriend was mad at him and threatened to call the police to &#8220;ruin his career.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His girlfriend was observed to have redness on the left side of her neck, the criminal complaint said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Blackwell was taken into custody and taken to the county jail that night. He is due in court in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He was named the chief of staff in June 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n          More from CBS News\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Public Schools announced on Thursday that, amid allegations\u00a0that he choked his girlfriend, Chief of Staff Lamar Blackwell&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74,940],"class_list":["post-255587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-public-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}