Board members deny age a factor in hiring
Brownsville Area School Board members testified Tuesday that they did not know or ask about and, therefore, did not consider the age of any of the applicants when the board hired two full-time custodians in August 1998. Instead, it was board members’ relationships or friendships with the hires that ultimately led to their hiring.
“Often the person who gets hired knows a school board member or school board members,” board member Melvin Sally II testified. “It’s not the best approach to hiring, but it’s the practice that’s most often followed.”
Board President Jim Brown offered similar testimony in a Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission hearing into an age-discrimination complaint filed by James R. Bennett of Grindstone, who was 63 years old when he applied for one of the custodial positions.
Bennett is seeking back pay from the date he was not hired and a full-time job as a custodian.
Maintenance supervisor Bart Verbanic said he gave the board a list of candidates, which included Bennett, for the two positions. Each candidate had been working as an as-needed substitute.
Bennett said he was overqualified, noting his experience in maintaining and driving a tank in the Army and having worked as a mechanic at two auto dealers. He also worked in the plumbing, heating and air conditioning field, and as a painter.
Now, at 67 years old, Bennett continues to work for the district as a substitute custodian and seasonal grass cutter.
He was hired a substitute in 1989 when he was 54 years old and then hired as a grass cutter in 1993 when he was 58.
The two full-time custodians hired in 1998 were 22 and 28 years old in 1998, but it wasn’t their youth that gave them the edge over Bennett and several other applicants, according to board members.
Raul Delgado, the then-22-year-old, was involved in a relationship with then Board President Stella Broadwater’s daughter.
“He was the father of my grandchild,” Broadwater testified under questioning by Bennett’s attorney Peter M. Suwak of Washington.
She voted in favor of hiring Delgado, noting that it was not a conflict of interest because he wasn’t married to her daughter at the time. They are married now, she said.
When asked by school district solicitor Matthew Hoffman if she advocated other board members in Delgado’s behalf, Broadwater said: “Probably.”
She said she always votes for the first two people whose names are on the list of applicants. “My record shows that.”
The then-28-year-old who was hired was Susan Zupich. “She befriended me,” Sally said.
He said he first met Zupich when his door-to-door campaign in a past election led him to her house. Sally said she offered to support his election bid.
After he won the election, Sally said she contacted him several times and sent letters, inquiring about a job in the district.
“She was terribly enthusiastic and eager to be employed,” Sally said.
Sally said he didn’t know Delgado at the time, but Broadwater “strongly advocated” for him and “I was friends with Stella.”
Hoffman asked if it was unusual for acquaintances of board members to get hired by the board?
“That’s often the case,” Sally said. “They had advocates on the board. I’m absolutely certain age had nothing to do with it.”
Brown said other board members solicited his support for Delgado and Zupich.
He said he “probably got some calls’ advocating Delgado and received “a lot of calls” in support of Zupich.
“Certainly you’re going to try to get someone you know a job,” Brown said. “It may not be the best way or the best choice, but it’s done.”
Board member Ellen Rohrer testified that nobody advocated for or against any of the candidates. She said she voted for Delgado and Zupich “because I knew both people.”
“It could come into play anytime,” board member Rocky Brashear said when Hoffman asked if fellow board members gathered support for job candidates they knew.
Most of the board members said they didn’t know Bennett at the time and couldn’t remember if his name was on the list.
They said they did not interview any of the applicants.
Bennett said he knew about Delgado’s and Zupich’s connection to board members, but still believed age was the deciding factor in the hiring.
Responding to a question from Hoffman, Bennett said he didn’t think his age was a factor was he was first hired at the age of 54. “It sure matters now though.”
Suwak asked Brown and Sally to compare the board’s hiring practices with the district’s hiring policy.
According to the policy, the superintendent and other administrators are supposed to interview applicants and recommend who should be hired, Suwak said.
The superintendent at the time was Dexston Reed.
Brown said he didn’t the superintendent would get involved in hiring custodians.
Suwak asked if the board’s who-knows-who hiring practice provides equal access to jobs?
Brown said the superintendent should inform the board of any special consideration is needed when hiring.
Suwak summarized the board hiring practices saying: “We can do arbitrarily do what we want to do based on five votes. That’s not a fair non-discriminatory practice. There’s no effort to ensure discrimination doesn’t occur.”
Sally said the policy serves as a guide for administrators and the board’s deviation from the policy does not result in a pattern of discrimination.
He said the policy is followed more closely when teachers and administrators are hired.
Sally said he would object if he was aware of a pattern of discrimination, but admitted, “there is no assurance mechanism.”
The three-member panel from the human relations commission was comprised of chairwoman Sylvia Waters, Carl Denson and Joseph Borgia.
After they receive a copy of the hearing transcript, Waters said the district and Bennett will have 30 days to file briefs.
The three commissioners will make a recommend a decision, which will then be presented to the entire 11-member commission. The entire board can change the decision, reject it, approve it or approve with dissenting opinions. There is not time limit in which a decision has to be rendered.