ECASD Board of Directors Officially Hires Superintendent

During a “Special Board Meeting” conducted at 5 p.m. on Friday, December 18, the Ellwood City Area School District’s Board of Directors voted to hire Interim Superintendent Dr. Wesley Shipley.

The special meeting was announced on Monday.

His five-year contract adds up to more than $1 million.

Directors Jennifer Tomon and Erica Gray were the lone “No” votes.

Tomon said her vote was because of budgetary reasons.

“This compensation package, that averages over $212,000 year, sets a dangerous precedent,” Tomon said. “This board is saddling the public with this expense. The same people who were left unemployed when the Medical Center left town, the same people who depend on our weekly meal distribution to feed their children, retirees who live on Social Security alone and those among us living paycheck to paycheck.”

Tomon added that this will fall solely on the tax payers.

“This isn’t Blackhawk or Butler or even Union,” she said. “Our district has no new significant large development—no large corporations to alleviate the tax burden on you and me.”

Previously, Shipley had served as Mars Area School District superintendent starting in 2015. His contract was not renewed by the board at Mars in January 2020.

Shipley was named Interim Superintendent during a very disruptive “Special Meeting” of the Ellwood City Area School District’s Board of Directors on July 17, when they accepted the resignation of then District Superintendent Joseph Mancini (effective September 22, 2020), voted to put him on administrative leave with pay until that date, and replaced him with Shipley.

At that time, Board President Renee Pitrelli; Board Vice President Gary Rozanski; and Directors Barbara Wilson, Matt Morella, Jean Biehls, Norman Boots, and Kathleen McCommons supported the moves.

Tomon and Gray dissented.

During that meeting, Tomon publicly questioned Pitrelli regarding the appointment of Wesley as interim superintendent.

“When did the board direct you to do so?” Tomon asked.

Pitrelli said five directors agreed to the move and that she was directed by the board’s interim legal counsel Amanda Jewell (long-time solicitor John DeCaro had recently resigned as the board’s solicitor).

Tomon said she didn’t feel Pitrelli made the proper effort to reach out to the entire board for directive and that the decision by email was a violation of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act.

Gray agreed.

“How is that not a violation of the Sunshine Law?” she asked.

Pitrelli insisted that she emailed all board members regarding the move, and that details were disclosed in email prior to the July 17 meeting and in that “Special Meeting’s” executive session—which occurred 20 minutes into the public meeting and lasted at least 40 minutes.

“We did not vote until now,” Pitrelli said during that July 17 meeting.

That July 17 public Zoom meeting began at 5 p.m., but was marred with “hackers” who disrupted the board’s business with sexually explicit messages and vulgarity in the Zoom chat function, and yelling of vulgar words and other loud sounds throughout the public portion. Around 5:20 the Board entered executive session to remove the “hackers” and discuss Mancini’s leave. The same disruptive activity continued when the board came out of executive session around 6 p.m. to resume the public portion of the meeting. At that time the board quickly made its way through voting despite the loud disruptions.

One of those votes was to appoint the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV as the superintendent search consultant.

Mancini’s retirement was announced prior to the July 17 meeting in an email from Pitrelli.

In that email, Pitrelli said the board wished Mancini well in his retirement and said the board was prepared to move the school district forward in the education of its students. She ensured a search for the right candidate.

“The Board will do an extensive search to select a qualified Superintendent who will work with the Board and community to develop a shared vision for the District,” Pitrelli wrote in her email. “Our eyes are on the future, not the past, and we will do the work necessary to select a new leader who shares the Board’s vision.”