A letter sent by a current Norwin school board member to the Westmoreland County judges did not influence their choice to fill a vacant seat on the panel, the president judge said Tuesday.

President Judge Rita Hathaway said the nine judges did not consider the letter sent by a school board member discrediting a candidate for the vacant position.

“It had absolutely no impact,” Hathaway said of the unanimous decision to appoint William Essay to the complete the remaining eight months of the term.

But Director Dennis Rittenhouse said at a board meeting Monday that Director Darlene Ciocca’s letter to Hathaway stating her opposition to former director Rebecca Gediminskas’ candidacy was “inappropriate.”

“It should never, ever have happened. You should not have had any contact with the judges,” once the appointment process was turned over to them, Rittenhouse told Ciocca.

On Jan. 7, the judges selected Essay, a former North Huntingdon commissioner, over Gediminskas and nine other candidates seeking to fill the unexpired term of Shawn Petrisko, who resigned in August. Petrisko’s term expires in December.

“I thought there would be no interference from the board. Once again, it (the selection process) was tainted,” said Rittenhouse, who voted for Gediminskas last year in the board’s attempts to fill the vacancy.

Rittenhouse previously claimed that Ciocca’s threat that she might resign if Gediminskas was appointed by the board had “tainted” a September vote.

Ciocca defended writing the letter, saying after the meeting, “I am sure that other people wrote letters of recommendation.” The judges did not contact her about the letter, Ciocca said.

Ciocca wrote that Gediminskas criticized her with “harassing and bullying remarks” for allegedly causing her to lose in her November 2017 re-election bid. Rittenhouse did not challenge her version of the event.

“She (Gediminskas) has not demonstrated board member qualities and characteristics of leadership, morals, integrity, honesty and respect for fellow other board members, administrators and staff,” Ciocca wrote.

Gediminskas’ criticism during a closed-door executive session was in violation of the state’s Sunshine Act because the remarks did not pertain to school personnel or legal matters, Ciocca said.

Gediminiskas said Tuesday that “I’ve been maligned a lot by this person,” but “I think it is time to let this go.”

Gediminskas said she believes that the judges made the right decision in picking Essay, which gives the school board “a fresh start.”

The judges were petitioned by Director Barbara Viola and a group of other residents to name a replacement after the board repeatedly failed to give any candidate, including Gediminskas, the five votes required to fill a vacancy.

Director Brian Carlton said he believed it was time for the school board to move on.

“It is time to put this in the past,” Carlton said.

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