Steel+Valley+board+reinstates+a+handful+of+furloughed+employees

= = =By Rickie Davis = =//Published in THE MCKEESPORT DAILY NEWS //= =// 7/27/11 //= = = = = =Teachers and residents who came to the Steel Valley School Board meeting left disappointed to learn only a handful of the district's teachers and employees who were furloughed for the 2011-12 school year will be reinstated. = =The board voted unanimously Tuesday to recall Michael Hofbauer and Beth Catterall to full-time positions and Amanda Linder and Brandi Chalus to part-time positions, as well as seven part-time paraprofessionals. = =Susan Ballas was absent from the vote, and board president Beth Cannon was not present at the meeting but voted by phone. = =Also approved for reinstatement were a high school biology position, a part-time district-wide art position and a part-time elementary counselor. = =Candidates will come from the pool of furloughed teachers, but because of the district's checkerboard realignment, the board will have to look into seniority and certification before filling the posts. = =Four additional names were slated for reinstatement on the original agenda. The board was set to vote on the recall of Christina Szott, Jonette Bost, Cara Hritz and Emilee Garcia, all to full-time positions, but their names were dropped from the motion following an executive session. = =Board member Vincent Natale said, "We wish we could bring them all back but with the declining enrollment, we just can't." = =Pennsylvania code only allows districts to cut teachers because of a school closing, district mergers, curtailing programs or declining enrollment, and Steel Valley contends that enrollment has dropped by as much as 20 percent over the last several years. = ="We don't have enrollment numbers that are complete yet. That's one of the issues," director Michael Terrick explained. "Whether they would be reinstituted as teachers or long-term substitutes those issues are still unclear and they'll make themselves visible over the next 30 days, before the next meeting." = =Superintendent Dr. William Kinavey refused to comment on the four names dropped from the vote. He said the district received $535,000 back from the state, but that money is not being used for recalling teachers. = ="It will be put in the general fund and used to balance the budget," Kinavey said. "We're bringing teachers back based on enrollment." = =Also removed from the agenda was a motion to reinstate one of the furloughed kindergarten teachers. = ="With enrollment numbers for first grade forward, education is mandatory, so we have a better way of knowing how many students we're going to have, but with kindergarten it's voluntary, so we have no idea how many parents will elect to put their children in school," Terrick said. = =The board expects to know more as the start of the school year approaches and enrollment numbers become more clear. = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">The personnel management vote also saw two additional employees being added to those furloughed Barry Spector from a full-time position and high school principal Jeffrey Soles. = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Soles' position will be eliminated effective August 1. A new position was created in its stead director of federal programs/high school principal, which will be taken on by Bryan Macuga, the current principal for Park Elementary. = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Cannon and director Kim Kubancsek voted for the elimination of the position of high school principal, but against the establishment of the new position and subsequent appointment of Macuga. = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">District solicitor Don Fetzko explained that six votes are required to eliminate a position, but only five votes are required for an appointment, so both motions passed. = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Diana Borges, district director of pupil personnel and special services/elementary education, will take on the additional role of principal at Park. = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">"We have consolidated so many positions to try and make this all work, and it's probably long overdue with the declining enrollment," Terrick said. "Now that you have the number of teachers changing, you have fewer teachers to supervise, so that's another reason for this consolidation." = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Natale said that Ed Colebank, district director of academics, information and technology, will assist the new principal. = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Parents expressed their concern over the losses and changes. = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Patty Semenko, whose daughter attends Park, urged the board to consider bringing Chalus back full-time. = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">"Our children need to have at least one visible person who they know and trust with all the changes you (the board) have been making. Imagine the first day of school with those kids not seeing Principal Macuga and Brandi Chalus. It's going to be a big impact on Park," Semenko said. = =<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Director Thomas Olson responded, "There might be the impression to some people in the audience that we don't listen, that we just ignore what's said, but in many of our work sessions, a lot of that information is what we discuss. I'm here, and I know all of the other board members are here, to do what's best for this district." = = = =News= =home=