Feb 21, 2003 By April Straughters 5 min read

BROWNSVILLE – After a long discussion, the Brownsville Area School Board approved a motion to allow the superintendent to administratively appoint personnel to fill vacancies until the next regularly scheduled board meeting. The issue came against some opposition by Director Andy Dorsey, who in January motioned not to allow anyone to work in the district without prior board approval after he said both professional and non-professional substitutes who had not been approved by the board were being called to substitute in the district before a long list of substitute that had been approved.

Dorsey found that at least one substitute teacher was related to a secretary who called substitutes to work in the district.

Dorsey tried to rescind his motion at a special meeting the following week, but the motion could not be rescinded because Director Stella Broadwater, who seconded the motion, refused to second Dorsey’s motion to rescind his first motion.

Solicitor Jim Davis said he was not familiar with Robert’s Rules, the meeting guidelines followed by the district, and was not sure if Broadwater needed to second Dorsey’s motion.

The board wanted to rescind Dorsey’s motion to adopt a motion allowing Grant to appoint personnel until the board’s next regular meeting after the board had to call special meetings to approve the hiring of a school nurse and Spanish teacher, which were needed immediately in the district.

Grant said after weeks of searching, she found qualified individuals to fill those positions within days after a regular board meeting.

At Thursday’s meeting, however, Dorsey again changed his mind and asked the board to keep his original motion and not give Superintendent Dr. Gerry Grant the power to appoint personnel without board approval.

“I think we should leave things the way they are,” Dorsey said. “I don’t like the idea of putting people on without board approval. I made that motion and it was put into effect to be fair to employees. I don’t agree with what is going on,” Dorsey said.

Dorsey added the board faced litigation after Grant appointed Tammy Crable, a former teacher’s aide, as a full-time clerk, instead of a part-time clerk, who had worked in the district as such for a number of years. The board voted to officially hire Crable for that position in January.

Grant said that grievance (with the part-time clerk) has since been dropped.

She also said that the power to appoint personnel is for emergency situations like the one she described and would require board approval at the next regular meeting.

High School Principal Rick Gates said that allowing Grant to appoint personnel in emergency situations is needed because there have been times he needed substitutes and the only ones available were ones not yet approved by the board.

“We’ve had problems when calling subs. We have the applications, but they haven’t been approved and I don’t have anyone to sit in my classrooms,” he said.

Director Jim Brown said that the board should develop a motion that better defines or outlines what positions Grant is allowed to fill without board approval.

District resident Nena Kaminsky, former school board member, said that she believes the superintendent should be able to appoint personnel to position, but she said there should be specific guidelines.

The board, however, voted to rescind Dorsey’s original motion (from January) and adopted a resolution allowing the superintendent to administratively appoint qualified personnel to fill vacancies as may arise from time to time.

However, any personnel administratively appointed shall serve only until the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Directors which shall then act to fill said vacancies in accordance with the provision of the Pennsylvania School Code.

Dorsey was the only board member to vote against the resolution.

Director John Evans took back a motion he made to quit following Robert’s Rules as a guideline for meetings after Dorsey accused him of trying to get around his original motion to only allow those approved by the board to work in the district.

“It’s (omitting Robert’s Rules) something being done real quick, right now, without discussion and it looks bad,” Dorsey said.

But Evans said that he made the motion because Davis (solicitor) said that not many school districts are following Robert’s Rules and it had nothing to do with the issues at hand.

In other business, the board:

– Approved the Intermediate Unit I proposed budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2004, in the amount of $1,838,524. The district’s share is $10,744.

– Adopted the following motion: “Consistent with the provisions of the Athletic Handbook, a coach shall not persuade, coerce or demand that a student participate in only one sport. Non-adherence to this rule will not be tolerated and may result in the coach’s suspension or dismissal.” The board also adopted a revised Athletic Handbook.

– Hired Larry Cash as head coach for the Redstone Middle School boys and girls track team for two years, with a salary of $2,000 for 2002-03 and $2,100 for 2003-04. The board hired Shawn Valente as the assistant coach for 2002-03 at a salary of $2,000.

– Accepted the resignation of David Zimcosky as ninth-grade baseball coach effective Feb. 20.