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Uniontown school director questions vote for administrator wage increase

By Natalie Bruzda nbruzda@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read
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Clay

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The Rev. Vincent L. Winfrey Sr. is celebrating his 20th pastoral anniversary.

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Rittenhouse

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Graphic by James Newmeyer

A Uniontown Area school director is questioning the reasons behind the adoption of an agreement that allocates salary increases for administrators.

Director Susan Clay, who voted against the measure at the last board meeting, said she does not think it was done fairly.

“There was one that got a huge raise, and there was no explanation for it,” she said. “I really have no problem with that employee. He’s a very good employee. I just don’t think it was done fairly.”

Clay said the position to which she is referring is a school resource officer.

In a split decision last week, school directors set wage increases for district administrators to occur over the next three years.

The directors adopted the Act 93 Agreement, an administrator compensation plan that took effect July 1 and will remain in effect until June 30, 2017.

Dr. Charles Machesky, superintendent, was not included on the list of administration wage increases because he currently works for the district for no salary.

Clay was joined by two other board members, Dorothy Grahek and Don Rugola, in voting against the measure. However, the agreement received the support of the majority of the board, with board President Ken Meadows, Vice President Vincent Winfrey, and school directors Tom George, Bill Gerke and Terry Dawson voting in favor of it. Board member William Rittenhouse Jr. abstained.

The vote was 5-3-1.

“My wife is part of that agreement,” said Rittenhouse, whose wife, Deborah Rittenhouse, serves as the district’s curriculum coordinator. “I feel very strongly that if the agreement that is being voted on affects your livelihood and family, two things should be in play. The first thing is that the school board member shouldn’t vote, even though the ethics law says that I can, I don’t think it would pass the sniff test. I also feel strongly about eliminating yourself from the debate. I didn’t this time however, because the debate was about something else.”

Clay said the board meets and discusses a compensation plan with district administrators every three years. The agreement is not a contract.

“Some got more than others based on how many buildings they have, the number of students they oversee, the number of teachers they oversee, and the degrees they have,” she said. “That didn’t take place with the one — that did not factor into his raise.”

Winfrey’s son, David Winfrey, currently serves as the school resource officer. Under the agreement, his salary of $34,000 will jump to $44,300 by the 2016-17 school year, according to information provided by the district.

Vincent Winfrey voted in favor of the Act 93 agreement; however, he abstained on a vote that passed to rehire another son, Vincent Winfrey Jr., as the assistant girls basketball coach.

Winfrey said that while the Act 93 plan did include a family member, had he not voted, the motion would have failed to pass and “by not passing the agreement, it was holding up a lot of people.”

“I made sure I could vote by asking our solicitor. He said I could,” Vincent Winfrey said. “I didn’t vote the last time (in May), because we weren’t clear on whether I could vote or not.”

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