Palmerton in search to replace Engler

Palmerton Area School District has tabbed the Pennsylvania School Boards Association to assist with its search for a new superintendent.

The board unanimously approved the move Tuesday night, but directors said the final cost depends on a number of factors.

“There is a front end cost and then a back end cost depending on how many background checks you do,” board President Kate Baumgardt said. “It’s probably going to be somewhere around $10,000.”

PSBA has assisted with Palmerton superintendent searches in the past. Each reference check costs $1,000, according to board members.

“We’ll contact them Wednesday to get this started,” Baumgardt said. “PSBA will give us a window of how long they are anticipating this will take.”

Palmerton’s human resources director, Thomas McLaughlin, was appointed as substitute superintendent for the remainder of the 2018-19 school year, at an extra $136.45 per day, after the district and prior Superintendent Scot Engler reached a mutual separation agreement last month.

The agreement, made public through a Right To Know request, calls for Palmerton to pay Engler $126,831, which was to be his pretax income for the 2019-20 school year.

On Tuesday, the board unanimously extended McLaughlin as interim superintendent at the same pay rate.

For the last two weeks, the district has had a survey on its website to gain stakeholder feedback on what they would like to see in the next superintendent.