Vicinelly officially named AG superintendent
Albert Gallatin Area School Board has officially named Walter Vicinelly as the district’s head administrator. The school board, at a recent special meeting, hired Vicinelly as the superintendent, giving him a five-year term and $83,998 annual salary.
“I thank the board and really appreciate the confidence they placed in me. Obviously, I’m excited to continue to work with them and the staff and parents,” said Vicinelly, who is in his 28th year of employment with the school district.
He was working as the substitute superintendent since last fall when Dr. Denise Martin took a sabbatical due to health reasons from the superintendent’s post. Vicinelly most recently was named acting superintendent when Martin resigned and was named instead as a central office administrator.
School Board President Janet Swaney said the board did not need to look beyond the school district for candidates to fill the vacancy.
“We have all the confidence in the world in Mr. Vicinelly. There was no need to go outside,” Swaney said.
Vicinelly said his stint as substitute superintendent was a learning experience and a good transition into the permanent position. He said his top priority now is to improve student achievement.
“I don’t necessarily mean only the student achievement measured by the PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests). I think we need to focus on improving the achievement of all the kids to prepare them to be competitive for whatever they choose to do, whether it be going to college, entering the work force or attending any other post-secondary school. We need to do everything we can to give them the tools they need,” he said.
Vicinelly said the school district’s strategic plan is a good vehicle by which to approach improvement, particularly through curriculum review and revision in line with the state’s academic standards.
The state and federal departments of education have challenged the district to raise student achievement by placing Friendship Hill and Masontown elementary schools on a “school-improvement list” this year. School choice has been offered at those schools, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The schools on the list are identified as failing to meet academic standards measured by the PSSA and other district tests for two consecutive years. A.G.’s D. Ferd Swaney and Smithfield elementary schools also are on the list, although school choice is not being required.
Otherwise, Vicinelly said he would continue to address technology in the schools. He said the facilities have been updated in the last several years through the efforts of Martin and the school board, and he looks forward to completion of the A.G. North Middle School renovation project.
He plans to continue to pursue grants and other resources to help provide for the district and students’ needs, and he said he’s fortunate to have the school board, staff and parents in the school district working together on behalf of the children.
A 1971 graduate of Albert Gallatin High School, Vicinelly attended Waynesburg College and earned a master’s degree and principal’s certification from West Virginia University. He obtained the superintendent’s letter of eligibility from California University of Pennsylvania.
His first job with the school district was as a third-grade teacher, and he taught elementary school for about 13 years. He advanced to elementary principal with several different appointments and eventually last summer gained the position as administrative assistant in charge of curriculum.
He and his wife, Darlene, live in Masontown. He has two sons, Anthony and Michael.
“I am just really looking forward to the next five years,” Vicinelly said. “I think our school district has so much to offer. We have a lot of good things occurring and we want to improve on that. Also, I have some big shoes to fill in following Dr. Martin with all the accomplishments she had.”
The vote at the special meeting Thursday was unanimous in favor of Vicinelly’s appointment. Action followed a two-hour executive session the board called to discuss the superintendent’s hiring as well as several other personnel items on the agenda, a student confidentiality matter and a corrective quit claim deed to Point Marion property previously conveyed by the district in 1994.
The board’s approval also came after the executive session on a contract for Martin as central office administrator. Vicinelly said Martin returns as an administrative assistant under the same compensation plan agreement as the other administrators.
As for duties, Vicinelly said one of his tasks as the new superintendent will be to realign and assign responsibilities of the administrators. He said he has some idea of what he will do, but he had not yet presented it to the school board.
Also, the board named Lara Bezjak as acting assistant principal at the high school for the current school year.
They granted library aide Judy Haines non-paid medical leave until about Oct. 1 and Dennis Ballas a medical sabbatical for the 2002-2003 school year.
In other business, the school board approved the final re-opened budget for 2002-2003 in the amount of $37 million, taking into account an added $406,169 in state funds.
The state Legislature passed its budget for this fiscal year after the school districts did, giving out some more money in subsidies than expected.
In its initial budget, the district had banked on a 1 percent increase in state funds but received a 3.2 percent increase, or $387,401 more than was budgeted. The district also got $12,600 more for transportation and a $6,168 charter school tuition reimbursement.
Business manager Michael Gigliotti said the school board returned items that had been cut from the budget. Among those items were three teachers, two of them for reading intervention and one for special education.