Dave Lattig and Talmage Allen are headed off to new challenges.

Both are completing their tenure with the Escalon Unified School District, leaving to pursue new opportunities, Lattig in Turlock and Allen in Oakdale.

Lattig, who has served as Escalon High School Principal for the last five years, will close out his career here on Friday, June 17, his last day on the job. Altogether, he has been with the district for 14 years.

“I started at Escalon High School, taught psychology and world history, I also coached girls basketball, was a JV football assistant coach,” Lattig noted. “Then I did two years at Van Allen as principal, and came back to the high school as assistant principal.”

He worked under both Joel Johannsen and Jason Maggard when they were principal, then moved into the principal post himself, serving for the last five years in that capacity.

“Working with this class of 2016, it was just an amazing group of kids,” Lattig said of his final class, seeing them through to graduation before leaving the district. “They are such high achieving students, the things they have accomplished is tremendous.”

Lattig’s oldest child, son Sam, was a member of that class. He also has a son that will be a junior this coming year, another son entering eighth grade and his youngest child, a daughter, will be a sixth grader in the fall.

“I will be going to Turlock and my job title is principal of Turlock Adult School and Career Technical Education, or CTE,” Lattig explained. “I was looking for other opportunities, things that would allow me to grow my career, expand my skill set. There are only a few districts I would like to work for and Turlock was one of them.”

He starts his new post on July 1, getting just a little time off after leaving EHS this week.

“This district has been very, very good to me and my family, I moved my family here into the community six or seven years ago,” Lattig added. “I am not leaving with any regrets, no negative feelings, it was just time for me to look for other opportunities.”

Talmage Allen, meanwhile, is wrapping up 11 years total with the Escalon Unified School District and he also served both as a teacher and administrator.

“I spent six years as a teacher, teaching drafting, health and PE, plus I coached basketball, soccer and helped with track and field,” Allen said.

After six years in the classroom, he moved to become assistant principal at Escalon High School for three years, then spent the last two at Van Allen Elementary as the principal for the small rural campus.

He said working in the Escalon district has been a blessing in many ways, and he has enjoyed being part of a successful school system.

“In every aspect,” he said of enjoying his time here. “There’s great community support, we see high academics out of our students.”

He also pointed to the ongoing support of colleagues, with a strong sense of teamwork reverberating throughout the district.

“To be able to lead and help students succeed,” Allen added of what meant the most. “This is a great district to be in.”

He will move on to serve as an assistant principal at Oakdale Junior High School this fall.

“There are mixed emotions,” admitted Escalon Unified School District Superintendent Ron Costa of the two leaving, noting that there is sadness to lose them but excitement for them to move up in their careers. “They are both excellent men and outstanding administrators.”