Palmerton superintendent gives reasons for dismissal

Cross-examination of Palmerton Area School District Superintendent Scot Engler continued Thursday during the latest three-hour session in a termination hearing for suspended high school Principal Paula Husar.

Husar’s attorney, Mark Bufalino, questioned Engler on several of the charges attached to the recommendation for dismissal.

Language program

First, and most lengthy, was Husar’s alleged failure to “appropriately or adequately follow a clear directive at the beginning of the 2015-16 school year to evaluate the high school language offering and make recommendations for these programs including language offerings moving forward.”

Engler said despite the directive, Husar “never provided any direction until August 2017.”

During his questioning, Bufalino entered into evidence documents he said show Husar discussed the foreign language program at department meetings dating back to the time the directive was given.

One of the documents included notes, which Bufalino said were from Husar, with the questions, “Is German a dying language and do we need to change foreign language options given the eventual retirement of a teacher?”

According to Engler, Thursday was the first time he had seen those documents.

“I would have expected if this was part of the plan given for our language program, I would have seen them,” he said. “Being presented them in termination hearings doesn’t help our language offerings.”

Bufalino also referenced an email exchange between Husar and Palmerton’s curriculum director Dan Heaney, in which he said Husar sent proposed survey questions for students about what they wanted to see in the foreign language program moving forward.

Heaney allegedly responded, “Thanks, I’ll take a look at it.”

Bufalino said there is no proof any follow-up correspondence occurred.

On Aug. 1, 2017, Husar was scheduled to present her foreign language plan to the school board during a workshop. Engler testified that she emailed to inform him she was out sick and would miss it. One of the charges against her is that she failed to attend the meeting.

The email also said she would provide a doctor’s note if the absence hit three days. Husar was back after two days.

“At the time the charges were drafted, it was very convenient that she did not attend and said she was ill,” Engler said. “During my deposition for a court case, the doctor’s excuse was provided, which she had never previously shared with the district. Given the importance of this presentation, I think the professional thing to do would have been to give a doctor’s note.”

Honor society criteria

Husar is also charged with failure “to adequately and appropriately address a parent’s questions about students’ criteria for admittance into National Honor Society.”

The issue, Bufalino said, stems from a complaint from a parent whose son was not admitted into NHS.

Most of the correspondence, he said, was between the parent and NHS adviser Alex Knoll.

“Nowhere did the parent complain or attribute deficiencies in the criteria to Mrs. Husar,” Bufalino said.

According to Engler, Husar told the parent there was a limit on the number of students who could qualify for NHS, which he said is not the case.

“This is always so hard when such a small number can be selected,” he read from Husar’s response to the parent.

Bufalino asked if Knoll had received any discipline for the lack of clear criteria for NHS.

“There would be no discipline for Mr. Knoll for the lack of administrative leadership with regards to this whole process,” Engler said. “Over the course of the entire year, the parent was left without direction, and that is all she was looking for.”

Engler said he later worked with Knoll to develop an objective, verifiable process for NHS admittance.

Response to student

The next charge against Husar is “accepting and validating a student’s apology for having been inappropriately “groomed” by a district coach (who has been subsequently dismissed and reported to proper authorities).”

The student sent an email to Husar about the incident from a parent’s account.

Husar responded, in part, “We’re all human. Mistakes happen.”

Bufalino said she thought she was replying to the parent when she made the comments.

“In fact,” Bufalino said, “Later when the parent sent an email letting Mrs. Husar know the first email was from the student, Mrs. Husar responded, “Oh I just noticed that, is she OK?”

Engler, however, said the student signed the initial email.

“Assuming Mrs. Husar knows who her students are, there was no room for misinterpretation here,” he said. “It was very clearly signed by the student. She also failed to get more information on the incident before firing off a response.”

Student parking directive

According to the Engler, Husar “purposefully countered a directive about student parking by allowing juniors and seniors from Carbon Career and Technical Institute to park in a construction area during the first week of school as opposed to seniors only.”

Evidence submitted by Bufalino showed Husar sent a message to parents on Aug. 23, 2017, the night before the first day of classes at CCTI, regarding parking.

The message informed students that only seniors could park starting the following week, but juniors and seniors attending CCTI could park on the grass for that Thursday and Friday.

“It went directly against the instruction that only seniors could park, even for those two days,” Engler said.

Bufalino argued that there were no complaints regarding the parking situation and that any issues that persisted throughout the year ”had nothing to do with the alleged failure to follow directive.”

Field trip

According to Engler, Husar returned tobacco confiscated during a field trip to a student at the end of the day.

“Mrs. Husar realized the student was not yet 18 and called the parent to tell her she had returned the confiscated tobacco,” Bufalino said. “The parent thanked her for that.”

Engler, however, said he talked to the parent, who described the situation as “a strange and unorthodox discipline.”

Classroom observation

The final charge discussed Thursday was Husar’s alleged “walking in and disrupting of a class taught by high school teacher Pam Wuest by standing in the back of the room without comment either then or later for the purpose of the walk-in.”

According to Engler, Husar walked into Wuest’s class 21 times over 12 days, leaving a student concerned that Wuest would lose her job.

Bufalino asked Engler if he was aware of “multiple parental complaints regarding Wuest’s classroom.”

“I’m aware there was one, and at best two, calls,” Engler said. “It is not out of the ordinary for a parent or two to have a complaint about any of our instructors.”

Engler said Husar and former guidance counselor Bryna Witkowski met with Wuest about the complaint.

Just prior to the end of the night’s testimony, Bufalino asked Engler if he ever told Witkowski, “if anyone helps Paula Husar, they would be in trouble.”

“Absolutely not,” said Engler. “I never said that to Ms. Witkowski.”

Hearing officer Robert Yurchak said the hearing would continue next month on Oct. 15 and Oct. 29.