Pleasant Valley School District solicitors resign
The law firm that has represented the Pleasant Valley School District for the past few years has resigned.
At Thursday’s school board meeting, Superintendent David Piperato said Newman, Williams, Mishkin, Corveleyn, Wolfe and Fareri had resigned effective March 1.
The firm had most recently been retained on May 17, 2017. That agreement was to have run from July 1 through June 30 of this year.
The board authorized the business manager to advertise for a new firm to represent the district.
When contacted for comment, attorney Gerard Geiger, who with attorney Daniel Corveleyn had been fixtures at school board meetings, said he was unable to comment due to the confidential nature of the firm’s relationship with the school district.
Attorneys Paul J. Cianci and Michael G. Greenfield, of the Levin Legal Group, were present to represent the board at Thursday’s meeting.
The district had hired Levin to conduct an internal investigation into the wiretapping, bribery and other acts currently under investigation by the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.
Joshua Krebs, director of support services has already been charged with eight felony counts related to wiretapping and use of information. Krebs is on administrative leave from the district.
A grand jury has been empaneled to take additional evidence.
Piperato was unable to answer any questions related to the resignation of the firm.
Hirings and retirements
• Kelly McMaster was hired as a kindergarten teacher for Pleasant Valley Elementary. McMaster has a Bachelor of Science in early childhood education and is certified in Pre-K to fourth-grade instruction. McMaster was hired at the Step 1 level of $42,300 annual salary.
• Lauren Nelson was hired as a bookkeeper for the district. Nelson will earn $31,265 annually.
• Roland Steele was hired as a second-shift custodian at $16.54 per hour.
• Supervisor of Special Education Cheryl Caines was approved for retirement, effective June 29.
In addition, 15 teachers and librarians took advantage of the 2018 PVEA Retirement Incentive program.
“There are a lot of teachers on this list,” Piperato said. “Whenever you have that many teachers retire, you are bound to feel the impact. We are going to miss every one of them and we welcome you all back as substitutes.”
• Teresa Greggo, a social studies teacher is retiring from PVE. Greggo was present at the meeting and received praise from board members.
“I hired a few of these teachers,” said Director Dan Wunder. “Teresa Greggo was the gold standard that I judged others on. She will surely be missed.”
Likewise, Director Laura Jecker said that having worked with Greggo she could attest to her professionalism and her high standards.
The board also approved the Monroe County Technical Institute budget for the 2018-19 school year. The total budget is $9,616,961, of which Pleasant Valley is responsible for $2,474,076.
