HARRISBURG (TNS) — A school superintendent with three DUI arrests on his resume has a new top job after a divided Allegheny County school board voted to hire him amid community objections.
As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, Daniel Castagna, 43, is the new acting superintendent of Woodland Hills School District in Allegheny County, effective immediately.
It was anything but a popular decision. The school board, divided over the superintendent’s history of DUI arrests, voted 5-4 to hire him for one year as acting superintendent until a permanent superintendent can be recruited and hired.
The Post-Gazette reports more than 200 people attended the Friday evening meeting in person and over Zoom. Most expressed opposition to hiring Castagna during a public comment period that lasted nearly two hours.
Lisa Franklin-Robinson, a North Braddock Borough Council member, said the school district’s move could prevent new residents from moving in.
“For people who are trying to move here, it’s not attractive. For people who live here, it’s abhorrent. I mean, like I said, I don’t know [Castagna] personally, but reviewing the resume lets me know that I want to know what your judgment is on hiring somebody that would draw negative attention to our neighborhoods,” the Post-Gazette quoted Franklin-Robinson as saying.
School board member Darnika Reed was among those defending the hiring, insisting Castagna was the most qualified candidate.
“There’s some things in his background I’m not happy about. But some of our children have the same stigma attached to them as well. And I fight against that,” Reed told the Post-Gazette.
Following the controversial vote, Castagna reached out to his new school community, saying this according to the Post-Gazette:
“We don’t know each other yet, and when people have a preconceived prejudice about you or some belief, there’s nothing I’m going to say that’s going to change that — that only changes over time and interaction. I believe that through my time here and my work in the school district with the students and the staff, I believe your opinion will change.”
Castagna was charged with DUI in 2008 and 2017. In both cases he was entered into an accelerated rehabilitative disposition program in which, after he completed drug and alcohol evaluation, counseling and other requirements, his record could be expunged.
In wake of the incidents, Castagna was fired as superintendent of the West Mifflin Area School District in March 2019 following the two DUI arrests and accusations of neglect of duties, incompetency and immorality. He claimed the school board’s actions were political and filed a lawsuit.
Castagna was again charged with DUI in August 2019, the newpaper writes, adding:
In the most recent case, Castagna faced DUI and other traffic violations after he crashing his car on Interstate 376 in Beaver County. According to the criminal complaint cited by the newspaper, Castagna told police that he was driving home from his girlfriend’s house after taking Ambien and fell asleep at the wheel.
Police said toxicology tests confirmed Castagna was on Ambien, a controlled substance that works as a sedative. His attorney said the Ambien was prescribed by a doctor and his blood levels were “within therapeutic range.”
