Lehighton hires business manager
Lehighton Area School District has a new business manager.
The board voted to hire Patricia Denicola at its regular board meeting Monday night.
Denicola, who was not in attendance, is currently employed in the business office of Parkland School District in Lehigh County.
She will replace Brian Feick, who announced his resignation last month and plans to stay on to help train Denicola.
Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said Denicola came highly recommended and is the best person for the job.
“We feel we’re very confident that she’ll continue to move the business department forward and do a great job for the students, staff and entire Lehighton education community, and we’re excited to have her be a part of the administrative team,” Cleaver said.
The board officially voted to approve a three-year contract beginning in July, however Denicola will come on March 25. Her salary for 2018-19 is $114,500, prorated for days actually worked.
Her salary will rise incrementally throughout the three-year contract, with salary totaling $122,000 in the final year.
The vote to appoint Denicola was 7-1 with Richard Beltz absent.
David Bradley Sr. voted against the hire. Bradley said he wanted to give the community a chance to review all the applications the district received for the position.
“I recommend that this be postponed until next month so the stakeholders have an opportunity to review, and the board can have an opportunity to review all of the applicants. Not just those presented by our superintendent to be rubber stamped by our board,” Bradley said.
Bradley also questioned whether the board was allowed to meet in full last week in order to interview candidates without the public present. He said Cleaver offered Denicola the position before the board voted on it, but after they conducted an unofficial vote at the meeting.
Board solicitor Eric Filer said the board is allowed under the Sunshine Act to meet to conduct interviews, and can take straw polls because they’re not binding.
“My advice was there is nothing wrong with the manner in which they conducted the interview,” Filer said.
The board also took the opportunity to praise Feick for his work on behalf of the school district. Feick is leaving for a position closer to his home in Berks County.
Since he arrived from Chester/Upland School District in 2014, Feick oversaw a period during which the district built a $33 million elementary center and renovated the middle and high school buildings.
Cleaver said that he and Feick had many long nights discussing the district’s finances, and he knows that his old colleague will just be a phone call away.
Board President Larry Stern said Feick made a positive impact on the district. He said replacing him will be difficult, but he understands Feick’s opportunity.
“The first thought always out of Mr. Feick was ‘How does this affect the students, how would this adversely affect them, or how would it positively affect them?” Stern said.
Feick downplayed the attention from the board.
“Thank you, and I’m still here another month,” he said.
Comments
Good afternoon. The State lawfully mandates that stakeholders have access to pertinent documents and input PRIOR to all actions of their government, specifically, the appointments of senior management positions.
This government operates in the shadows. The rubber stampers, Yenser, Spinelli, Stern and Holland fought to keep the entire process secret. They provided their blind trust to the Superintendent who kept the process in the shadows. The Superintendent accosted a citizen and threatened him with arrest when he attempted to participate in the government process. Why?
Just another example of why I love Lehighton but loathe this government.
The request for the full list of applicants was denied. This is basic information is needed to make an informed decision. In my opinion, the secret hiring process is unfair to the applicants that were effectively hidden from the board.
All this secrecy casts doubt on the entire hiring process. This is unfair to the new hire. The lack of transparency and amplified secrecy purpretrated by the government taints the hiring process.
The government was elected to oversee the Superintendent, yet the Superintendent denied the board the list of applicants.
For the fab five, rubber stamping Superintendent Cleaver is business as usual.
Sincerely,
Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.
Why is our Lehighton Area School District, and our government staff that run it, so afraid of transparency?
This is a government entitlement program. We should take pride and transparently display of all our government actions and their results.
Sincerely.
Citizen David F. Bradley Sr.