In a bellwether Pennsylvania county, a Republican school superintendent announced his retirement days after Democrats won local elections to take over the school board, prompting the current GOP members to approve a $700,000 severance package after just 26 months on the job.

According to the Bucks County Herald, Abram Lucabaugh announced his resignation on Monday, six days after five Democrats swept the open board seats in the previous week’s election for the district with 18,000 students, because he was apparently too worried the new members would not support his far-right agenda.  Since becoming superintendent of Central Bucks School District, his orders have included having school libraries remove material he deemed inappropriate; having the schools remove LGBTQ pride flags and other material supporting non-traditional gender identity and sexual identity; and having the school district sued by a teacher who alleged the district administration retaliated against him for helping a transgender student.  The board was so pleased with Lucabaugh’s work that they renegotiated his contract this past July and included a $85,000 annual salary increase.

The outgoing board members, all of whom are Republicans, authorized a $630,000 cash severance payment that included one year of his salary, unused vacation and sick days and a $50,000 one-time payment for some reason, a highly unusual bonus given that Lucabaugh quit; he wasn’t fired or laid off.  A separate package to be voted on Tuesday would pay Lucabaugh $10,000 to serve as interim superintendent until the end of the month, at which point he would be compensated $1,000 per day he works until the Board hires a new superintendent, something that will likely take months given the sudden nature of his departure.