Personnel Committee for September, 2013

This new column that operates independently of the Patch or the Salisbury Township School District and is not run by any staff members of either organization; aims to clear up the clutter and disorganization in interpreting staff changes at the Salisbury Township School District with insider analysis. This is by no means meant to be an invasion of anyone's personal privacy; only a look at the history behind the staff changes. This column also runs one other tidbit in the board agenda which I personally think is interesting. Anyone with questions, tips (will be anonymous if useful enough to be credited), or a request for clarification; can contact me at stsdpersonnelpatch@gmail.com. Please allow me up to a week to respond as I am very busy.

As with most schools at the beginning of the year; the personnel committee at Salisbury Township School District was very active. Two people resigned/retired, six people were hired, and other changes involving out of school tutoring, transferring, and FMLA's were discussed.

The most important staff change this month was the retirement of Mrs. Lorraine A'Brunzo on September 17, 2013. Before she went into education, she worked in public enterprise as a chemical engineer. She was hired during the 2002-2003 school year as a Full-Time Science Teacher between Salisbury Middle School and Salisbury High School. As well as that, she was also a chemistry professor for Lehigh Carbon Community College from 2005 from 2007. By the start of the 2007 - 2008 school year; she was exclusive at Salisbury High School, where she taught Chemistry and Pre-Calculus at the time of her retirement.

Her replacements are Sarah Wascura and Richard Pearce. Mrs. Sarah Wascura will be taking over Mrs. A'Brunzo's science classes as a Full-Time, on a date that is yet to be decided. She has a lot of transferable experience from teaching High School Chemistry and Enviromental Science in the Northampton School District since 2003. Mr. Richard Pearce will be taking over Mrs. A'Brunzo's math classes on September 23, 2013. He had been a long time day to day subsitute, and occasional home tutor for Salisbury for at least the past 5 years, and was just recently  hired as a Part-Time Business Teacher this school year. This new assignment will promote him to Full-Time.

Mrs. Shelly Francello was hired as a Part-Time Nurse (7.25 hours for 3 days a week) at Western Salisbury Elementary School and Harry S. Truman effective September 10, 2013; but resigned on September 16, 2013; leaving the position up for grabs for the 4th time since it was established during the 2011-2012 school year. Interested applicants can look on www.stsd.org/jobs.cfm or on the Patch when it runs it's "Who's Hiring" column to find out when the position is available to apply for.

Ms. Glenna Snyder was hired as a 2 hour a day Part-Time Cafeteria Worker for Harry S. Truman Elementary School retroactive to August 26, 2013. Before she was employed with the school district; she worked as a Day to Day Subsitute. She replaces Mrs. Betty Kline, who had worked as a Cafeteria Worker since 1972 in Harry S. Truman Elementary School, and had one of the longest tenures ever in the school district at the time of her retirement.*

Mrs. Kristy Weid has been transferred from a 100% itinerant Full-Time Gifted Teacher between Western Salisbury Elementary School and Harry S. Truman Elementary School to a 100% Full-Time Gifted Teacher between all four schools. She will only be doing some of the GIEP's at the Middle School and High School; and will not be displacing the current gifted seminar teachers there.

Mrs. Doreen Vangeli has been transferred from 2 hour Part-Time Instructional Assistant at Western Salisbury Elementary School to a 3 hour Part-Time Instructional Assistant retroactive to September 16, 2013. She replaces Mrs. Sheri Mohry, who was promoted to a 4.5 hour a day Part-Time Instructional Assistant position at Harry S. Truman Elementary School this August; a year after being transferred from Salisbury High School to Western Salisbury Elementary School.

Mrs. Karen Rideout was hired as a 4 hour a day Part-Time Instructional Assistant at Western Salisbury Elementary School retroactive to September 16, 2013. She replaces Mrs. Sheri Busolits, who had been an instructional assistant, library aide, and temporary secretary at Western; since she was hired in 2008.

Mrs. Ann Marie Ross was hired as a 4 hour a day Part-Time One-on-One Instructional Assistant at Western Salisbury Elementary School effective September 30, 2013. Her employment caps a large number of new hiring and transfers; due to a large influx of special education students starting Kindergarten or attending regular school for the first time.

Mr. John Miller is taking an FMLA for up to 60 days. He was hired in 1999 as a Full-Time Evening Custodian at Salisbury Middle School and was later transferred to his current position as a Full-Time Daytime Custodian at Salisbury Middle School in 2011.

Mrs. Carla Pacitti, a recently hired Full-Time English Teacher at Salisbury High School, is taking a general leave of absence from February 4, 2014 to April 29, 2014. She will be using sick and personal days and will not gain any pay for the period; other than what is stated in her contract. As this is less than half a year; the school does not need to hire out and I have heard a reliable rumor that a sub has already been chosen.

Ms. Katherine Rossetti will co-chair the Class of 2016 Advisory with Mrs. Kelly Butterbaugh. Ms. Rossetti had previously co-chaired the Class Advisories for the Classes of 2008 and 2009 with Mr. Paul Koba.

Mrs. Margaret McGinty is providing homebound instruction to a student (listed as Student A) in Mathmatics, Reading, Language Arts, and Science.

Mr. James Hersh is returning as an assistant swimming coach for the 2013-2014 school year. He was originally employed during the 2012-2013 school year.

Mrs. Nina Elias will be working as the Musical Director for the High School Play; assisting Mr. Will Erwin, who is returning this year.

In other news, Tom DeMantini just reported that the Devil's Folly Haunted House has been given premission to use the parking lot of Salisbury Middle School for 8 days in October. STSD has been requiring Dominic Giles, the owner of the Haunted Barn; to pay a $100/day fee for parking since 2012; due to a large growth of people going to the Haunted Barn since it was opened in 2007.

* The first two years of Mrs. Kline's employment was at the Administration Building; which was an elementary school while Truman was being constructed.