Jul 24, 2009 4 min read

CARMICHAELS – The Carmichaels Area School Board at a special meeting Thursday approved a master teaching schedule that does not include an elementary dean of students position. The board voted 6-2 to approve the original master teaching schedule given to board members for their review before the July 16 regular board meeting. Board members Ken Ganocy, Jerry Simkovic, Doug Kerr, Ron Ferek, Richard Krause and Dr. William Czyzewski voted in favor of the move, while Melodie Berardi and Edward McIntire voted against it. Board member Thomas Ricco was absent.

The board agreed to meet Thursday night after it failed to approve a teaching schedule last week.

At last week’s meeting, placing Superintendent Craig Baily’s son, Jason Baily, in an elementary dean of students position created controversy and halted the passage of the schedule since it failed to garner five votes, which Solicitor Sam Davis said would be needed for the motion to pass.

McIntire, Berardi and Ganocy voted at that time against hiring Baily for the post. Simkovic, Kerr, Ferek and Ricco voted in favor of the motion.

A master teaching schedule must be approved by Aug. 1 per union rules, Craig Baily said last week in scheduling the special meeting so the board could approve a teaching schedule.

The superintendent was not in attendance at the special meeting. He announced last week that he would be at an event in State College.

The dean of students position was being considered to provide additional help to elementary Principal Rob Cole and his staff. Cole said Jason Baily helped him with student discipline and provided assistance regarding the bullying program last year.

Simkovic previously said the board has been committed to doing something to help the district’s personnel and he is dedicated to finding help for Cole and his staff. The move would require hiring no additional personnel or would be at no additional cost to the district since Jason Baily’s salary would remain the same, he said.

Thursday, Simkovic again pushed for the need to plan ahead by ensuring that someone else besides the superintendent is trained to handle federal funds. He said the superintendent could decide to retire or take a position elsewhere, leaving the district with no one trained in federal funds.

“We’re in jeopardy of losing four administrators in the next few years because of retirements. We need to plan ahead for that,” Simkovic said.

Simkovic said not considering Jason Baily for the post could be considered discrimination against a qualified candidate.

McIntire requested that the board’s education committee meet to discuss the issue of having a federal funds coordinator. Ferek, board president, said the board will set a date for the committee meeting at its regular meeting in August.

For Berardi, the subject does not appear to be dead. Last week, she urged the board to approve the original teaching schedule that did not include the dean of students position, but that motion failed.

In a statement given after the board meeting, she described the potential appointment of Jason Baily to the dean of students post as “nothing more than nepotism and favoritism at its best.

“Unfortunately, in my opinion, our district is becoming weaker educationally and administratively,” Berardi said. “If we truly needed another administrator, I believe that we should have followed a normal hiring procedure rather than just turning it over to the superintendent’s son.”

Cole recommended Jason Baily for the dean of students post because he said his schedule could easily be freed. Baily currently serves as the district’s band director.

A change in the teaching schedule approved Thursday night is the transfer of first-grade teacher Joey Udovich to a fifth-grade teaching position after district officials added another fifth-grade classroom at the elementary center to lower fifth-grade class size to 19 students as compared to 26 last year.

The school will now house four fifth-grade classrooms. The first-grade teaching position left vacant by Udovich’s transfer will be posted, according to district Business Manager Amy Todd.