{"id":256050,"date":"2026-07-31T04:31:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T04:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/256050\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T04:31:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T04:31:40","slug":"pittsburgh-public-schools-chief-of-staff-resigns-amid-assault-strangulation-charges-wpxi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/256050\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Public Schools\u2019 chief of staff resigns amid assault, strangulation charges \u2013 WPXI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">PITTSBURGH \u2014 The Pittsburgh Public Schools\u2019 chief of staff has resigned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/pittsburgh-public-schools-chief-staff-facing-assault-strangulation-charges\/AGREWM524ZFXPDZY6D6ISBQAQY\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/news\/local\/pittsburgh-public-schools-chief-staff-facing-assault-strangulation-charges\/AGREWM524ZFXPDZY6D6ISBQAQY\/\">after he was charged with assault and strangulation.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">According to the district, Lamar Blackwell, 31, submitted his resignation letter on Thursday, effective immediately.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">In the letter, Blackwell wrote:<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">\u201cServing this district has been one of the greatest professional honors of my career. I remain deeply proud of the work we have accomplished together to strengthen organizational effectiveness, advance strategic priorities, and better serve our students, families, and staff.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">\u201cUnfortunately, 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. 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Blackwell was charged in April. According to court documents, he was arrested on Sidney Court after a woman told police he grabbed her by her wrist and choked her. Police said the woman had redness on the left side of her neck.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">PPS Superintendent Dr. Wayne N. Walters released the following statement on Blackwell\u2019s resignation:<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">\u201cWe respect Mr. Blackwell\u2019s decision to resign and his desire to act in the best interests of the District,\u201d said Dr. Walters. \u201cOur focus remains on continuing the important work of serving our students and school communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">A preliminary hearing for Blackwell was originally scheduled on April 23. It has been postponed several times and is now expected to happen in September. <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Download the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/mobile-apps\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph\">Follow Channel 11 News on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpxi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WPXI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>. | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpxi.com\/video\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 gJuxXh body-paragraph body-copyright\">\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 The Pittsburgh Public Schools\u2019 chief of staff has resigned after he was charged with assault and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[109012,109011,109013,108367,73,75,74,940],"class_list":["post-256050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-assault-and-strangulation-charges","tag-chief-of-staff-resignation","tag-dr-wayne-n-walters","tag-lamar-blackwell","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\/256050","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=256050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}