Opponents of controversial hiring accuse Leechburg Area School Board of political bias

Leechburg Area School Board members were presented with formal complaints and questions Wednesday night following a controversial hiring decision.

Neill Brady, a Leechburg resident and school board candidate, voiced his dismay and requested answers after his son-in-law, Sean Hess, was passed over for a position with the district despite receiving a unanimous hiring recommendation from the administrators who interviewed him.

Brady accused the majority of the board of going against the recommendation due to Hess’ relation to him. Brady said he felt as though Hess was not treated equally during the interview process.

He claimed the evaluation process was not impartial and suspects personal feelings about him changed who was ultimately selected for the position.

“I feel this was a personal attack on my family by five members of the current school board who voted for a less-qualified candidate for the emotional support position,” Brady said.

Not a current school director, Brady served on the school board from 2003 to 2023. Then, in May, he earned a spot on the Republican and Democrat ballots for November’s election.

During a special voting meeting July 30, the board hired Makenna Goldinger as an emotional support teacher for kindergarten through second grade students.

The vote was 5-3, with board President Ashley Coudriet and school directors Tom Maxin, Jimmy Feudale, Joseph Lepish and Anthony Townsend voting in favor of the candidate’s hiring. Directors Melanie Knight, Candi Stewart and Darius Lovelace voted against hiring Goldinger. Board member Andrew Pallus was absent.

Hess previously told TribLive he was offered the position July 29 by Superintendent David Keibler but was cautioned the offer was pending board approval the next day.

After the school board vote, Hess said Keibler informed him of the board’s vote but he was not given a reason why.

Hess was not at Wednesday night’s meeting.

Brady asked a number of questions that went unanswered Wednesday night. He asked the board to disclose which member changed the recommendation and why it happened.

“The evaluation process to eliminate biases is no longer valid,” Brady said. “The majority of the board can overturn the entire hiring process and hire whomever they want regardless of rubrics and resumes.”

Rubrics and scoring are utilized during the hiring process to rank candidates for positions in the district. They are available for school board members upon request but were not requested or used during the July 30 meeting.

Keibler outlined the district’s hiring process, saying he receives resumes from potential candidates. In addition to the school board’s personnel committee, teachers, administrators and staff are selected, depending on the position, to help conduct interviews.

From there, interviews can be conducted for multiple rounds depending on the number of candidates. A final hire is picked, and a formal recommendation is submitted to the school board for approval.

Stewart, Maxin and Coudriet acted as members of the personnel committee during the interview process.

District Solicitor Joe Dalfonso said the hiring process the district utilizes is sufficient.

A reason was not given for why Goldinger was hired or why Hess was not.

Lepish asked how anyone would know Hess was the most qualified candidate since the resumes of the candidates were discussed behind closed doors, in executive session. But Stewart said it was discussed during the public meeting that Hess has nine years of teaching experience.

“How do we know Sean Hess was the best candidate? Well, I’m going to tell you,” said Danielle Reinke, a Leechburg resident and school board candidate. “(Administrators and teachers who are a part of the interview process) came to you and they said, because of your interview process, this is the person for the job.”

She said she trusted those district members to have the best recommendation since they work with students directly each school day.

“They came to you and said (Hess) was the best candidate. That’s how we know he was the best candidate,” Reinke said. “And you didn’t hire him.”

In another flurry of unaddressed questions, Reinke asked why board members did not trust the recommendation of administrators who work with the students.

Townsend questioned how the initial news of the hiring “got out.” He accused Stewart of sharing executive session information and accused TribLive of being “fake news” since a reporter was not present for the hiring and interviewed people after the meeting.

The discussion became heated and was cut short by Pallus, who ran the meeting since Courdriet attended virtually.

Chuck Pascal, a Leechburg resident and previous Leechburg Area School Board director, spoke during the meeting. He said there had been allegations in the past about the board hiring people based on who they were connected to, and the board had made an effort to put an unbiased process in place.

“I think through the years the board has done that. We have great employees in this district. Tonight, we heard from new administrators who were all hired on that basis,” Pascal said. “We have a great and dedicated staff because, for several decades now, we would adhere to hiring the most qualified candidate. That didn’t happen a couple weeks ago.”

He said it was clear the majority of the board acted with personal motives and bias.

“I want to make it clear that despite an political controversy around this issue, I welcome the new employee as a new member of the Leechburg family and wish her the absolute best success in this district,” Pascal said.

Coudriet and Feudale did not win nominations for November’s General Election. Barring successful write-in campaigns, they will be replaced by Brady and Danielle Reinke, both of whom won Democratic and Republican Party nominations in the primary.