Reading School Board Fires Its Superintendent

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note:  Who didn’t see this coming?  “Indefinite sick leave…”  What a hot mess.

The short but rocky relationship between the Reading School Board and superintendent Dr. Carlinda Purcell has come to an end.

The board voted Tuesday night to fire Purcell, effective today. Substitute superintendent Karen B. Gokay will take over as acting superintendent.

Purcell is in the second year of a five-year contract. She was paid $175,000 annually.

The board ousted Purcell by a 6-3 vote. Rebecca Acosta, Isamac-Torres Figueroa and Robert Heebner voted no.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=520360

Interim Coatesville Area School District Superintendent Focusing On Communication

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COATESVILLE, PA — It’s been nearly two weeks since the Coatesville Area School District hired interim Superintendent Leonard Fitts to lead the school district during a time of crisis.

Fitts, 73, of Moorestown, N.J., has spent nearly 50 years working in education, serving as superintendent, assistant superintendent and interim superintendent in various school districts in New Jersey.

School board members hoped the hiring of an experienced outsider as the temporary chief would help the district heal from misfortunes surrounding the abrupt departures of two former administrators.

The board, with the help of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, has an ongoing search for a permanent superintendent.

Read more: http://www.timesherald.com/social-affairs/20131112/interim-coatesville-area-school-district-superintendent-focusing-on-communication

Shouts And Accusations At Coatesville Area Board Meeting

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CALN — Members of the Coatesville Area School Board continued to bear the brunt of public outrage Tuesday as calls for the removal of the district’s acting superintendent and solicitor dominated a public meeting held over a month after the controversial departure of two former administrators.

At Tuesday night’s regularly scheduled school board committees meeting in the district’s 9/10 Center auditorium, community members again criticized the school board’s handling of the resignations of former Superintendent Richard Como and former Director of Athletics and Activities Jim Donato.

The highlight of the meeting came when Acting Assistant Superintendent Teresa Powell, one of two whistleblowers who uncovered the racist and sexist text messages exchanged on Como and Donato’s district-issued cell phones, took the podium and accused acting Superintendent Angelo Romaniello of exchanging insensitive text messages about her with his predecessor.

According to Powell, the text message transcripts at the center of the district’s ongoing controversy contained exchanges that referenced her by name, and that the now acting superintendent was a key participant in those conversations.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20131009/shouts-and-accusations-at-coatesville-area-board-meeting

Boyertown School Board Hires Superintendent

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States Public School Districts (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Boyertown School Board has hired a new superintendent whose experience with building projects should help the district as it prepares to renovate and expand the high school, officials said Thursday.

Dr. Richard Faidley, 44, who has spent the last two years as superintendent of the Derry Township School District in Dauphin County, was hired by an 8-0 vote on Tuesday.  His salary was set at $165,000.

The board chose Faidley partly because he’s a strong leader and has construction knowledge, said board President Gwen W. Semmens.

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=495561

City Of Reading School District In Freefall

Editor’s note: Evidently, the Reading School District has some very serious issues.  Recently five top administrators, including the Acting Superintendent of Schools, resigned en masse.  We posted this article the other day.  A new article has “popped up” about another huge problem in the district and a follow-up article to the mass exodus of leadership.

The Reading School District’s human resources department is broken, says a firm hired to evaluate the department.

According to a report, the department has several serious deficiencies, with the most important being its structure.

“Key members of the current staff lack the qualifications and experience necessary for their roles, and staff is not being effectively utilized in that some core (human resources) functions are not currently being performed,” the report reads.

The report encourages the district to reorganize the department, including making personnel changes.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=358177

Here is a follow-up article on the mass exodus of administrators:

Teachers and fellow administrators have thrown their support behind five Reading School District administrators who announced their resignations Friday, while the school board has called a special meeting to figure out how to handle the sudden departures.

Citing philosophical differences with the board, J. Drue Miles, acting superintendent, and four Cabinet members announced Friday that they will resign their posts effective Feb. 17.

The other administrators leaving are John Stoudt, acting assistant to the superintendent; Roger Brubaker, acting director of finance; Guadalupe Matias, acting director of elementary education; and Joe Santoro, acting director of secondary education.

All the administrators were hired over the summer on a temporary basis to fill in for administrators who had left their positions.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=358153