Caroline Pate-Hefty, who served as Whitewater Unified School District Superintendent for five years, ending in June 2025, has resigned from the same role for the much larger Mannheim Township [Pa.] school district. The landcasteronline newspaper reported that the school board approved Pate-Hefty’s resignation on March 19, 2026. As was indicated in this previous Whitewater Banner article, she had been on leave since mid-February.
The following are excerpts from the Landcasteronline article:
“The Manheim Township school board unanimously approved a resignation agreement negotiated with Superintendent Caroline Pate-Hefty, with the board president saying she was “not the right fit for Manheim Township.”
Board President Patrick Grenter’s brief statement Thursday evening before the vote shed little light on why Pate-Hefty’s tenure ended after less than eight months. He insisted that a clause in Pate-Hefty’s employment contract barring the board from revealing details of any investigation into her leadership was not why the board was providing little information about the reasons for her departure.
“Simply put, confidentiality of this matter would have occurred regardless of this contract language,” Grenter said. “Our employees have rights. They have rights to a fair process and we will uphold those rights. Nowhere in that process does it involve discussion of personnel matters in the media.”
“We are committed to learning from this outcome to strengthen the next superintendent search in partnership with our administration staff and parents,” Grenter said.
Grenter said the board listened to feedback from the school community, worked with its counsel and investigated, acting swiftly to make a change. Yet, as four residents pointed out during public comment, replacing the superintendent is a costly burden.
“We are paying Dr. Hefty through June 30 of this year,” parent Marty Kieffer said. “This means we are paying out $75,000 to someone who is not working.”
“There is a cost of separation that we do not take lightly but are clear that this is the best path forward for the school district administrators, staff and students,” Grenter said before voting to approve Pate-Hefty’s resignation.”
