Neshannock school board hires superintendent

NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Neshannock School District board of education has hired Michael Hink as superintendent.
Hink was offered a four-year contract Monday with an annual salary of $95,980. He will replace Ronald Mento who resigned in March to take a job at the Montour School District in Allegheny County.
School officials said they expect Hink to be released from his duties as Wilmington superintendent sometime in the next 60 days. Joseph Scungio, who has been acting superintendent since Mento resigned, will continue in that position until Hink makes the transition, board members said.
Karen Houk was the only board member to vote against the move. She said after the meeting she was not voting against Hink, but she disagrees with the four-year contract.
"When we hired Dr. Mento under a five-year contract, I was made aware that the community wanted no more than a three-year contract," she said.
Frank Rondinelli was elected school board president. Houk resigned the position last month citing board members differences over hiring a superintendent.
Houk and board members John B. Dietz and Gina Hennon voted for Dietz as president in a 5-3 vote that elected Rondinelli. Rondinelli, Joseph Geirlach, Richard Canciello, James Kearney and Tracy Stevenson voted for Rondelli.
Dietz was nominated for vice president, a position previously held by Rondinelli, but lost to Kearney in the same 5-3 vote. Board member Walter Kustra was absent.
The board formally accepted an extra $132,427 in state funding for the 2002-03 school budget. The extra money came from a last-minute change in the state budget.
The district will put $85,500 toward its technical education program and $46,926 to help reduce bonds it took out in 1992.