Jul 17, 2007 By Rebekah Sungala 3 min read

Laurel Highlands School Board hired Beth A. Hutson as director of federal programs and assistant director of elementary curriculum during a special meeting Monday. The school board voted 6-1 to hire Hutson, who has a doctorate in education and currently serves as the regional curriculum specialist at the Intermediate Unit 1 in Coal Center.

The motion to hire Hutson was made by Bill Elias and seconded by Jim Tobal.

Elias, Tobal, Cathy Rice, Edward S. George, Mary Conway and Angelo Giachetti voted to hire Hutson, while Beverly Beal voted against hiring Hutson.

School directors James F. Burns and Palmer Sabatine were absent from Monday’s meeting.

Hutson received her doctorate from Indiana University of Pennsylvania while employed as an assistant professor at the university. She received her bachelor and master’s degree from California University of Pennsylvania.

In addition to teaching at IUP and working at the Intermediate Unit 1, Hutson was previously employed as an elementary and middle school teacher at three school districts and worked with students at various levels, from special education to gifted.

Hutson will be paid an annual salary of $75,000.

In other business, the school board approved the referendum question regarding at-large voting.

At the June 28 school board meeting, George, who opposed at-large voting before failing to secure the Democratic nomination by more than 150 votes in the May primary election, made a motion for the board to place a referendum on the ballot asking voters whether to continue with regional voting or to transition to at-large voting.

The motion to have a referendum placed on the ballot passed 5-1, with George, Tobal, Giachetti and Beal voting yes. Rice voted no with Burns, Sabatine and Conway passing on the motion.

Currently, residents vote for one, two or three candidates, depending on the number of open seats in the region in which they live.

Voting at large would allow residents to vote for all nine school board members. Laurel Highlands is the only school district in Fayette County where voting is done by region.

School district solicitor Gary Frankhouser said the referendum will read: “Do you favor a change in the current method of electing school directors for the Laurel Highlands School District from three regions to a method of at-large election from the entire Laurel Highlands School District, where the residents of the district will vote for all nine members?”

Frankhouser said the referendum will be placed on the ballot in November.

The school board approved the referendum question Monday by a 5-2 vote, with Conway and Rice voting against it.

A long-time proponent of at-large voting, Giachetti said he’s glad residents will finally be able to decide how they would like to vote.

Giachetti said he’s brought the matter before the board several times within the last three years and that the board has always opposed it.

“It will let the people choose the way they want to vote,” he said.

The school board also conducted the following business:

– Authorized previous action in regards to the awarding of bids for the new access road to the high school and the expanded upper parking lot. The school board also voted to have all the parking areas repaved at the high school and have the gravel lot near the administration building paved. The entire project will cost approximately $265,000.

– Agreed to purchase two metal detectors, one for the middle school and one for the high school.

– Accepted the resignation of Steven Weiss, head boys’ soccer coach, and voted to post the position.