Lew-Port School Board moves on appointments

Board, LPUT aim to work togther

by Larry Austin
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, July 23, 2005

Several Lewiston Porter teachers union members have their co-curricular jobs back after coming to an agreement with the Lewiston Porter Board of Education on Tuesday. The board appointed coaches and advisors “in the interest of moving forward,” said School Board President David Schaubert.

The board made the following appointments for the 2005-06 school year: Rick Sweeney, Ski Club advisor and boys junior varsity soccer; Scott Townsend, Model United Nations, boys varsity tennis and boys junior varsity volleyball; Joe Lauzonis, boys and girls varsity swimming; Frank Scelsa, high school Drama Club; Jan Mathews, Ski Club; Paul Moskaluk, Masterminds; Jennifer Yadav, Science Olympiad. Townsend, Sweeney, and Lauzonis were left off the list of coaching reappointments earlier in the year for what were considered negative comments made to the board.

School board member Len Palumbo said such comments diminish the reputation of the school. At the June 21 meeting, Palumbo said that a written apology acknowledging the violations and the promise that such violations would not occur again would make the teacher eligible again for a co-curricular appointment.

‘Real Misunderstanding’

Palumbo said there was “a real misunderstanding” as to why the coaches had not joined their teams.

“It’s really up to them. If they want to be on the field tomorrow, they could be, but for whatever reason they’ve chosen not to be,” Palumbo said. “I don’t know why. The sooner we have them out there, I think the happier everyone will be.”

“I think the longer this goes on, the more my worst suspicions of the motivations of certain people are being confirmed,” Palumbo said. “This has more to do with politics than it does with students.”

Referring to the coaches, board member Ed Lilly said the ball was in their court.

Schaubert said the matter boiled down to an acknowledgment of the past and the pledge to the future. He noted his encouragement in statements by Lew-Port United Teachers union president Jean Henesey’s and by the changes in leadership in the board, superintendent’s office, and union.

Closed-door Session

Near the end of the meeting, Schaubert moved to adjourn for 15 minutes to discuss the coaching issue with Townsend, Lauzonis, Henesey and Palumbo. After the closed-door meeting, the board voted to return to session and listened to Henesey read a statement that said: “Lines of decorum have been crossed by everyone, and we acknowledge that we have played a part in this also. In the future, we will communicate in a professional and respectful manner, and we look forward to more positive communication with the board.”

The board then retreated to executive session at Lilly’s request to discuss personnel.

Henesey said the L-PUT would address the board as a whole, rather than individual board members. She said she and Schaubert had met and talked on the phone to “put the past in the past and to get the seasons underway for sports.” She attributed the comments in the past to emotional topics coming before the board, which raised the frustrations of involved parties.

Henesey said the coaches supported her comments and were ready to make the statements themselves.

Initially, the board did not reappoint Sweeney to the $1,124 position as Middle School Ski Club advisor earlier in the meeting by a 4-3 vote, with board members Carol Rogers, Robert Laub and James Mezhir voting in favor of appointment.

When they returned from executive session, the board voted 7-0 for the appointments. Schaubert said that if the board had not acted that night, the next board meeting in August would have come just three days before the beginning of the fall high school athletic season.

No More Outbursts

Prior to a community comment portion of the meeting, Schaubert cautioned the crowd against the sort of outbursts that had disrupted meetings in the recent past.

“It is neither a question and answer period, nor a time to debate the board,” Schaubert said.

With that, several speakers urged the board to reappoint the coaches.

Joan O'Laughlin, a mother of a member of the boys swim team, asked the board to reinstate the three coaches and said a petition drive had gathered 1,000 signatures toward that end.

Marcia Dorian of Lewiston said the board had a chance for a “do-over” this school year.

“With the majority of our administrative team leaving and the changes in the school board, we have the opportunity to start a new era here in Lewiston Porter,” Dorian said. “Do-overs are the chance to admit a misstep and begin again.”

Josh Janese, a varsity swimmer, pointed out that after Mark Johnson was not reappointed as girls varsity track coach, the track team went winless on the season. His mother, Barb Janese, said the board was asking the coaches “to grovel” in order to regain their jobs.

Townsend said the last couple of months had been trying for him as he wondered about his coaching status.

“The difference was that we had the opportunity, for the first time really, to communicate directly with board members,” he said. “And I think that helped a lot.”

Looking Forward

Janese and teammate Brian Seguin said they were looking forward to a great season. Janese said without Lauzonis, the team would not win the close meets. Seguin noted a win this year over North Tonawanda by two points, which he attributed to preparation and strategy.

“That was purely good coaching,” he said.

Schaubert said the agreement took “a little cajoling,” though it appeared that nothing would be resolved before the end of the meeting.

“It didn’t happen, but I decided to take one more shot at it at the end,” Schaubert said. “There was give on both sides on it.”

Tenures Granted

In other matters, the board granted tenure to High School Principal Michael Gallagher as well as 11 teachers: Lori Boss, Joseph Conti, James Coyle, Crysti Hargrave, Michelle Helwig, Kevin Kirsch, Shannon Lester, Paula Singleton, Karen Doktor, Tina Oddy and Joshua Milovich.

By a 4-3 vote, the board voted not to grant tenure to former Dean of Students and Athletic Director Vincent Della’Oso. They tabled the matter, with Rogers, Laub, and Mezhir voting no.

Lilly said the board was not legally allowed to grant approval and should not have been on the agenda. School attorney F. Warren Kahn noted that teachers can receive tenure earlier than three years at the discretion of the board, but the same does not hold true for administrators.

“It’s contrary to state law to award tenure ahead of time, plus the fact that he went to a better opportunity somewhere else back in June,” Lilly said.

Rogers said that had Della’Oso remained at Lew-Port for the required three years, the board would have granted such tenure, and a motion noting such passed by a 7-0 vote.

New Principal

Also at the meeting, Interim Superintendent Don Rappold introduced Tamara Larson as the new principal at the Intermediate Building. Larson comes to Lew-Port from Erie 1 BOCES, where she was the coordinator of the Positive Youth Development division. She replaces David Livingston, who retired at the end of the school year.

At the beginning of the meeting, the board accepted a flag from Army 1st Lt. Bryan Mackey, a 1999 Lew-Port graduate, for the school’s efforts in a clothing campaign assisting children in Iraq.

Mackey also delivered a certificate of thanks to the board from his commanding officer.

Mackey deployed to Iraq with the United States Army 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) unit. From May 9 to 16, schoolchildren and Intermediate Building personnel collected 75 cases of clothing for distribution in Iraq.