East+Allegheny+Education+Association+members+protest

= By Patrick Cloonan = =Published by the McKeesport Daily News= =6/12/12= = = = = = = = Several dozen East Allegheny Education Association members attended Monday's East Allegheny school board meeting, wearing "TEACH" (Tell Everyone All Cuts Hurt) T-shirts. = =None spoke, but others in a standing-room-only crowd did, on topics ranging from the hiring of a high school assistant principal to the board's refusal to move the meeting to larger quarters.= ="Is there anywhere else we can sit where we can be comfortable?" resident Tom Barbarino asked, suggesting that the crowded board room might violate fire code restrictions.= =Board president Gerri McCullough said residents could stand out in the hall, but otherwise rejected Barbarino's request.= =One parent suggested she may pull her children out of East Allegheny schools depending on the outcome of contract talks with "the people who hold my children's future in their hand."= =Logan Middle School PTO president Dawn Richardson-Frank referred to the 128 EAEA members, who again accepted state fact-finder Robert C. Gifford's recommendations while the board again rejected them.= ="I am on the side of my children," Richardson-Frank declared, calling "very uncomfortable the tone and tenor of the talks so far."= =She questioned whether district officials were making sacrifices demanded of the teachers. District officials told another speaker that administrators had taken a pay freeze.= =Resident Rick Stevenson asked if a post was created for superintendent Roger A. D'Emidio's daughter.= ="It wasn't created for my daughter," D'Emidio said about last month's naming of Bethel Park district teacher Betsy D'Emidio as an assistant to high school principal Donald MacFann.= ="She went through the process and qualified for it," the elder D'Emidio said.= =Resident Mysty Conway said she reviews various websites including the district's own and did not see the assistant principal posting. The superintendent said the job was posted in all district buildings.= ="If you want a job, you come," Roger D'Emidio said. "If someone wants a job that bad, they'll come to the buildings."= =The younger D'Emidio is one of two assistants hired last month. The other is Angela McEwen at Green Valley Primary School.= =McEwen will work with principal Sean Gildea. The board also accepted McEwen's resignation as a math teacher at Logan.= =In another action Monday, the board assigned Gildea as principal at the district's Early Learning Center in the high school building, at Green Valley and for grades 4-6 at Logan.= =Raymond Morton returns to being principal just for grades 7-8 after a year overseeing all grades at Logan. In 2010-11 Harriet Hopper, now retired, was grade 4-6 principal.= =Morton also adds the role of federal programs director, a job formerly held by Gary Peiffer, who resigned from that role and as assistant to the superintendent to accept the superintendent's job at Carlynton.= =D'Emidio told resident Tina Barbarino that Peiffer would have to repay any money the district gave him for the education needed for his post as an assistant.= ="He has to pay that back for not staying here five years," D'Emidio said.= =Others questioned why East Allegheny was accepting Duquesne students. Under state mandates, East Allegheny and West Mifflin Area have received high school students from Duquesne. In the fall, they also may receive seventh- and eighth-graders.= ="The majority are going to be special ed students," resident Donna Wankulitz contended after the meeting. She also questioned how large classrooms would have to be to accommodate those students.= =During the meeting, district officials told Wankulitz that those students aren't being taken free of charge, that Duquesne pays tuition.= = = = = = = = = = = =News= =home=