Year in Review: Palmerton principal issue not resolved

Palmerton high school Principal Paula Husar went before the school board beginning in January to fight for her job after Superintendent Scot Engler recommended her dismissal to the governing body.

Husar willingly turned in her keys and was walked out of the building by district administrators on Sept. 7, 2017. She is suspended without pay, pending the outcome of the hearing.

Husar faces over 20 charges which include a multitude of false statements about Engler, blaming him for the late release of class schedules, trying to discredit him in an email to staff and failing to follow through on a directive to develop a long-range plan for the high school’s foreign language program.

At the initial hearing, Engler told the board that Husar’s ongoing pattern of behavior led to a “toxic work environment.”

Mark Bufalino, who is representing Husar, alleges his client’s confidential evaluation of Engler to the school board did not stay that way, leading to what he called Engler’s “personal jihad” against Husar.

Bufalino argued that the district violated Husar’s rights to due process by locking the door to the building where the hearing was being held in January after it started.

In a May 9 opinion, President Judge Roger Nanovic ruled that he currently has no jurisdiction over legal issues with Husar’s dismissal hearing conducted under Pennsylvania School Code.

“If there are irregularities in the conduct of that hearing, it is incumbent upon the parties to protect the record and to bring those irregularities to the attention of the hearing officer,” Nanovic wrote.

Several more hearings were held throughout the year, most recently on Dec. 5, with the administration still presenting its evidence against Husar.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the board will decide whether or not to dismiss Husar based on the evidence. Two-thirds of the board must vote for Husar’s dismissal in order for the action to carry through.

Palmerton hired retired Nazareth Middle School Principal Bob Kern as acting high school principal while the hearing plays out.

Kern receives a rate of $450 per day.

After Husar went out in September 2017, the district moved junior high school Principal Rich DeSocio to the high school in an acting principal role.

In March 2018, the district moved DeSocio back to the junior high, and hired John Gilly and Gloria Bowman to split the acting principal duties for the remainder of the school year.

Court sides with Palmerton against ex-teacher

U.S. District Court judge ruled against a former Palmerton Area School District kindergarten teacher in her lawsuit stemming from her 2015 dismissal.

In her lawsuit, Lauren Smith claimed she was fired over a book of drawings she had made and in retaliation for critical comments made on the district’s handling of individualized education plans.

“The record does not contain any evidence of actual malice or willful misconduct on the part of any of the three defendants,” Judge Jeffrey L. Schmehl wrote in his order, handed down last week, which closes the case. “(Smith) has nobody but herself to blame for her predicament.”

A book of drawings at the heart of the case “was intended as a personal gift for an assistant teacher and contained drawings intended to be humorous about certain people the teachers knew and classroom situations they had experienced,” Smith’s original complaint stated.

Another Towamensing staff member, according to the complaint, contended the book of drawings made fun of students and teachers in a demeaning, derogatory way.