Jul 28, 2005 By Steve Ostrosky 4 min read

The Laurel Highlands School Board acted Wednesday to fill vacancies in faculty and administration, hiring 12 teachers and an elementary principal. Directors voted 8-1 to hire Rick Hauger as principal at Hutchinson Elementary School at a starting salary of $75,000 for the 2005-06 school year.

Hauger is presently the Laurel Highlands varsity boys’ basketball coach, and principal at Mapletown Junior-Senior High School in the Southeastern Greene School District.

As part of the motion, Hauger will be paid 97 percent of the elementary principal base salary in 2006-07 and will be at the same base salary as the other elementary principals during the 2007-08 school year.

He will be able to transfer 60 sick days to the district for general use and will transfer another 60 sick days, but will not be counted at retirement for payment.

Director Angelo Giachetti, who voted against Hauger’s hiring, said he had nothing personal against Hauger, but he felt that the district could save money by using a current administrator as a principal and not hiring someone.

“We have people in the district who can do this job,” he said. “It will be good for the school system because we’re in a budget crunch and it will be good for the taxpayers of the school district.”

He said the additional money could go to textbooks or for a new program instead of filling the principal position.

Director Cathy Rice said she understood Giachetti’s argument, but felt that there should be a principal in every building.

“If you give someone (in administration) that work, they will be spread too thin and won’t be effective in either job,” she said.

The board also took action on several faculty positions, including five teaching jobs at the elementary schools and two long-term substitute elementary school teachers for 2005-06.

Directors voted to hire Katie Coffman, Adrienne Milsom, Krista Long, Eric Gaydos and Cathy Crackovich-Brown as elementary teachers, and hired Lisa Vanek and Debbie Stanish for the long-term elementary substitute positions.

The board hired Carolyn Ford as a reading specialist at the middle school, Julianne Frith as a high school English teacher, Melanie Hayller as a high school French teacher, and Wendy Craft as a high school physical education/aquatics teacher.

Directors failed to approve the hiring of Brandi Mancini as high school math teacher on the first try, with five directors passing on the first motion. Later in the meeting, the hiring was approved 7-2, with only Giachetti and Palmer Sabatine passing on the second motion to hire Mancini.

Board President Edward S. George said that the administration and several board members took part in more than 50 interviews for the positions that the board voted to fill.

“They were very tough decisions because we had a lot of great candidates,” he said. “We couldn’t go wrong no matter which way we went.”

The board also voted to table hiring a business education teacher at the high school.

Dr. Ronald Sheba, district superintendent, said that the actions taken Wednesday fill several vacancies, but a few more remain, including a math coach at the high school and a business education teacher at the middle school.

He said the exact number of available positions will not be known until the bidding process for vacant positions with the Laurel Highlands Education Association is complete. He noted that 18 positions vacated by retirement will go unfilled for the upcoming school year.

Before adjourning, the board voted to award a $14,475 contract to Faris Carpet for carpeting at the administration building, and awarded a $10,995 contract to Polito Carpet for carpeting in the high school library.

Directors also voted to reschedule the August meeting to Tuesday, Aug. 16. The work session will begin at 5 p.m. in the high school. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium.