Patty Hace

Introduction

Patty Hace is a 39-year-old teacher and varsity volleyball coach at Hawken School, an elite private school in Gates Mills, Ohio, who resigned on October 30, 2026 — one day after a Hawken alumnus contacted the school with allegations of inappropriate conduct involving her. Head of School D. Scott Looney placed Hace on immediate leave and barred her from campus as soon as the allegation arrived, then accepted her resignation the following day, and reported the allegations to local law enforcement and the State Board of Education of Ohio .

Background Information

Hace spent twelve years at Hawken, teaching high school human performance and health while coaching the school’s varsity volleyball team; her biography on the Hawken Hawks website noted she attended Kenyon College and held a bachelor’s degree in psychology. The allegation against her arrived on Thursday, October 29, 2026, when an alumnus contacted Head of School Looney directly. Looney told parents in an email that Hace “underwent thorough background checks, and these ongoing checks did not reveal any issues.” By Thursday of the following week, Hace had been removed from the Hawken Hawks website entirely .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Resigned amid allegations. No criminal charges have been announced; the allegations have not been tested in any proceeding, and Hace has not publicly responded.

Looney’s email to parents described the sequence: an alumnus contacted him on October 29 with allegations of inappropriate conduct involving the high school human performance/health teacher and varsity volleyball coach; the teacher was placed on immediate leave and not permitted on campus; the teacher resigned on Friday, October 30. The school reported the information to local law enforcement and the State Board of Education of Ohio, and said it is working with authorities to determine “whether there is any indication of similar conduct involving other students or occurring more recently” .

“We take this matter extremely seriously,” Looney wrote. “The safety and well-being of our students, both past and present, is our highest priority, and we have a fundamental responsibility to uphold the trust that families place in us every day. Any behavior that violates the professional boundaries between adults and students is unacceptable and fundamentally inconsistent with Hawken’s commitment to Fair Play and the values we uphold.” Per a report Looney’s account echoed, the allegations do not involve current students or recent graduates. The school said the active investigation limits what it can share, and asked anyone with information to contact Looney or Associate Head of School Suzette Dyer .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The resignation landed at Hawken roughly a year after a separate scandal involving a different former employee: Devin Hernandez, a former assistant strength and conditioning coach at the school, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual battery involving a 17-year-old student — conduct that occurred in 2023, before he left Hawken for another school. The back-to-back cases have made staff-conduct scrutiny a live issue for the school community, and Looney’s message to parents paired the Hace disclosure with support resources for high school students .

Current Status

Hace resigned October 30, 2026, is barred from campus pending the leave that preceded her resignation, and has been removed from the school’s website. The allegations are reported to local law enforcement and the Ohio State Board of Education; neither agency has announced charges or discipline in the fetched coverage. Hawken says it is working with investigators to determine whether similar conduct involved other students. Hace has not publicly responded to the allegations .

Impact on Their Career/Life

A twelve-year teaching and coaching career at one of Ohio’s most prominent private schools ended within a single day of the allegation’s arrival — the school’s leave-then-resign sequence left no gap between accusation and removal, and the referrals to law enforcement and the state education board keep the matter open regardless of her departure. For Hawken, the case is the second boundary-related exit in a year, and the school’s transparency push — a parent email, a public statement, a standing request for information — is itself part of the record. For Hace, the allegations remain unproven and uncharged, but the profession’s trust structure has already answered: her name is gone from the school’s site, and her coaching career is over .

Sources

• Chagrin Valley Today, “Hawken teacher, volleyball coach resigns after alumnus’ allegations,” November 2026 — source
• WOIO 19 News, “Hawken School says teacher resigned following allegations of inappropriate conduct,” November 4, 2026 — source
• Hoodline, “Hawken School Teacher Resigns Amid Misconduct Claims,” November 2026 — source