ST. MARYS — The search for a St. Marys Area School District superintendent continues amid heightened scrutiny over the appointment process thus far.
Monday’s meeting of the school board saw no resolution to the ongoing search for outgoing Superintendent Ann Kearney’s replacement.
Kearney’s exit is set for July 30.
The meeting also saw visiting members of the public urging the board to consider home grown candidates over those proposed through a $10,500 search led by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. The Association’s search saw Dr. Kandace Williams of the Reading School District recommended to fill Kearney’s shoes.
But in a special meeting held May 29, the school board deadlocked in a 4 to 4 vote on Williams’ appointment.
School board member Bert Sorg was among those who voted against Williams’ hire. He cited poor academic performance at the Reading School District as among his concerns.
Sorg explained after Monday’s meeting that he remains opposed to what he believes is a costly and unnecessary external School Boards Association search and says he would have preferred the district pull from a local talent pool instead.
Sorg said he wants the district to find a new superintendent in one of two candidates already employed by the district, namely high school principal Dr. Josh Williams and director of curriculum Joe Collins.
Sorg said the candidates may be viewed as lacking “center office experience” by the four board members who voted in favor of bringing in outside help.
He said his constituents are largely in favor of local superintendent candidates.
That support was on display at Monday’s meeting with former St. Marys Area High School teacher Bill Granche urging the board to consider Williams or Collins for the position, saying both “understood education is not just about testing. Testing is finite, learning is infinite.”
The last meeting of the school board on June 5 saw Williams placed on the agenda for consideration as superintendent and subsequently taken off after the board realized it had failed to give members five day notice required on a vote of that caliber Sorg, explained Monday.
As for when, or if, Williams’ name would reappear on a meeting agenda of the school board remained unclear Monday. The meeting ended with the board convening an executive session closed to members of the public to discuss the issue further.
According to Pennsylvania law, a government entity including school boards, may hold an executive session to discuss a matter related to the employment, appointment, termination of employment, evaluation of performance, promotion or disciplining of a specific prospective, current or former public officer or employee employed by the agency.
But some argue the vagueries of the statute leave it open to misinterpretation or misuse.
Attendees of Monday’s school board meeting said they want more transparency from the board as it continues to discuss issues related to the superintendency.
Prior to the executive session, school board members offered little in the way of details or explanations when pressed on the subject.
Board president Bob Luchini said the search for a new superintendent is ongoing with no concrete time table or plans for an acting superintendent.
“I would have liked to have hired by July 1, but that’s not going to happen,” Luchini said.
Kearney has previously stated she would remain in the position until a replacement was found, but it was not immediately clear if that means she will be staying on past the end of her term on June 30.
Kearney was also one of three long-time district administrators headed into retirement and recognized for the contributions during the meeting.
Kearney, South St. Marys Street Elementary School principal Bob Grumley and district treasurer Cindy Fingado are all leaving the district with nearly three-quarters of a century of experience between them.
