Carmichaels Area School Board names new business manager
Carmichaels Area School Board hired a new business manager at a special meeting Thursday after the board accepted the resignation of the former business manager last month. Former business manager Vincent Belczyk left the position to take a job with the Yough School District, which is closer to his home in Belle Vernon, said district Superintendent James Zalar.
The new hire, Amy Todd of Coal Center, has been employed in public education since 1994, and joins the Carmichaels Area School District from her employment as business manager with the Mount Pleasant Area School District. There, she was responsible for a $26 million budget, including oversight for payroll, benefits, purchasing, bidding and reporting, according to information on her past experience provided by the Carmichaels Area School District.
In the Mount Pleasant district, Todd also oversaw district transportation in conjunction with the contractor and was responsible for the submission of all child accounting reports.
Prior to Mount Pleasant, she held a similar position with the Monessen School District.
Todd holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelors degree in business administration from California University of Pennsylvania.
She will begin her duties on April 24, marking the start of a five-year agreement with the school district.
Zalar said three candidates were interviewed for the business manager position in March, and the board chose Todd based on her qualifications.
The board unanimously approved Todd’s hiring Thursday. The approval of her pay scale, set at $75,000, was a different story.
The pay scale was approved 5-3 with board members Michael Conte, Ken Ganocy and Jerry Simkovic voting not to approve the yearly salary.
Conte said $75,000 is too high for a district the size of Carmichaels.
“I don’t object to Mrs. Todd. She’s very qualified. I can’t go with the salary,” said Conte.
Simkovic said he voted no because he didn’t approve of the pay scale structure.
Ganocy followed the same line of thought as the other two board members, noting he thought $75,000 was “a little bit too high.”
Zalar noted that in July of this year, Belczyk was set to receive a $75,000 salary – no less or no more than that which the board approved for Todd.
In other business, the board accepted the resignation of personal care attendant Linda Schiffbauer and assistant football coach John Menhart.
The board voted to hired Justin Stephenson to replace Menhart, who is principal of the junior high school.
The board also agreed to advertise for the repair/renovation of the gymnasium.
Buildings and grounds director Lewis May said the plan is to repair the gym roof, do some painting in-house and then refinish the gym floor prior to basketball season “if the money works out and everybody is on board.”
May said the architect has bid documents ready for the roof project and has submitted preliminary plans for the work. Bids could arrive in time for May’s monthly board meeting, so board members could either approve or reject the bids at that time.
“You could say that’s way too much money or that’s doable,” May told the board.
The board’s next regular meeting is scheduled for April 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the high school resource room.