Stefano bill would set time for school board votes
In the wake of a scathing state auditor general’s report on the Connellsville Area School District, state Sen. Pat Stefano is proposing legislation that would require school boards to post online any employment offers to superintendents and principals at least two weeks before voting on them.
“This legislation will give taxpayers an opportunity to examine the terms of employment contracts that the local school board extends to key district employees and provide their feedback, concerns or support to their elected officials,” Stefano said in a statement Tuesday. “In a time of tight budgets and taxpayer concern over rising property taxes, it’s imperative that the hiring process be as open as possible.”
Stefano, R-Bullskin Township, was responding to Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale’s report last week that lambasted Connellsville Area for its financial mismanagement and the hiring of multiple superintendents over the last few year, including Superintendent Phil Martell, who was business manager for just five months before he was named the acting superintendent in November and then named superintendent on Jan. 27.
“This audit threw up red flags all over the place. We see a revolving door of superintendents, a former administrator criminally charged with theft and a district that’s struggling financially and academically,” DePasquale said in a statement last week. “I’m so concerned about this district that I am meeting next week with the state Secretary of Education to discuss what assistance can be provided. The students and parents in this district absolutely need help now to turn the school around before it is too late.”
DePasquale noted that Connellsville Area has had five superintendents in the last six years, three of whom were designated as “acting.” He also made the claim, which the district has disputed, that district officials told his auditors on Jan. 20 that a “nationwide search” for a new superintendent was being conducted, but the board gave Martell a five-year contract that was not publicly advertised just a week later.
“Unless I’m missing something, it’s impossible to vet a nation’s worth of candidates in just a few days,” DePasquale said. “This is outrageous, especially since the public was not notified before the board voted on the superintendent’s hiring.”
Stefano said the “failure to notify or inform the public cannot and should not be tolerated” and that contracts and hiring decisions “shouldn’t be railroaded through and approved in secrecy.” His legislation would force school boards to post information on the hiring of district superintendents, assistant district superintendents and principals, including their salaries and length of their contracts.