Shaler Area High School assistant principal starts work month ahead of formal hiring approval

The Shaler Area School Board approved hiring an assistant principal for the district’s high school about a month after he started working.

While the district says it followed “standard protocol” in hiring the administrator, it’s a practice that should not be, says Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.

“This kind of retroactive hiring practice is problematic because it cuts the public out of the decision-making process and destroys their ability to weigh in prior to the decision being made,” Melewsky said.

District Solicitor John Vogel said it was done this way so a new assistant principal would be in place for the start of the school year.

“You’re trying to do things with compliance but also matters of running a school district and, particularly at the beginning of school, assistant principals are very important,” he said. “You need to have someone hitting the ground running.”

The board voted at its Sept. 17 meeting to approve hiring Ryan Duane as assistant principal of Shaler Area High School, retroactive to Aug. 18, which had been his first day.

The district’s first day of classes was scheduled for Aug. 19 but was delayed to Aug. 20 because of a threat against its elementary school.

Duane’s salary was set at $80,000.

Duane replaces Thomas Misko, who the district says gave notice of his resignation on July 1. While his resignation was effective July 31, the board did not vote to accept it until Aug. 13. The board did not have any public meetings in July.

Misko became principal of Moon Area High School beginning Aug. 1, according to an announcement from that district.

Shaler Area publicized Duane’s hiring with an announcement on its website dated Aug. 26, just over a week after he started but about three weeks ahead of the board meeting and vote.

According to the announcement, Duane previously had served as dean of students at Eastern View High School in Culpeper County Public Schools in Culpeper, Va. He and his family relocated to Pittsburgh this summer.

Duane earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and a master’s degree in secondary science education at the University of Pittsburgh, and holds an educational leadership certification from Longwood University in Farmville, Va.

The district received 63 applications for the position, Vogel said. Of those, 12 were interviewed on July 28 and 29, and four returned Aug. 6 for presentations. A final administrative interview with Duane was done Aug. 8, followed by an interview with the school board Aug. 13.

In a statement issued through district spokeswoman Carrie Butler, Shaler Area Superintendent Bryan O’Black said the school board gave “preliminary verbal approval” to hire Duane.

A board meeting scheduled for Aug. 20 was canceled, Vogel said.

The board held a special voting meeting Sept. 10, where it approved hiring a new business manager, Kimberly Pawlishak, who is expected to start on or about Dec. 10. Vogel did not know why the board did not vote to approve Duane’s hiring then, and O’Black did not offer an explanation.

The state’s Sunshine Act allows for special meetings to be called whenever they are needed, Melewsky said.

“I would argue this kind of situation calls out for that option,” she said. “The public has a right to weigh in on prospective public employees so that the board can act in a fully informed manner. That can’t happen when the board acts, then later ratifies its decision.”

Asked why no special meeting was called, Vogel said it was a matter of timing, including issuing the required public notifications and having a majority of the board available to attend. He said there also did not appear to be any objection to hiring Duane.

“It’s not a matter of schools wanting to avoid public meetings,” he said. “They’re trying to get things off the ground.”

Vogel said retroactive hiring “does happen quite a bit,” with boards giving superintendents the power to hire teachers and lower-level administrators for ratification at a future meeting.

“There’s an inherent conflict between running a school district and compliance with the technical aspects of the law,” he said. “It’s a matter of the intersection of what does the public notice require and what’s involved in operating the school district.”

Through Butler, O’Black said Shaler Area hires teachers throughout the summer and the board does a “retroactive review” and votes in August.

“It’s standard protocol here and everywhere,” O’Black said.

In fact, at the Sept. 17 meeting, in addition to Duane, the board approved three other retroactive hires of a maintenance electrician effective Aug. 19, a print shop clerk effective Aug. 27 and an administrative secretary in the business office effective Sept. 1.

State law allows interviews to be done in executive sessions closed to the public, but it does not permit hiring outside a public meeting or without the benefit of public input, Melewsky said.

“While the law allows an agency to ‘cure’ suspected violations in certain circumstances, it does not permit routine retroactive official action,” she said. “I’m not suggesting this particular employee matters in this situation; on the contrary, it could be any employee as the school district appears to suggest that it is standard to hire outside a public meeting and approve that decision retroactively.”