NEW CASTLE Schools chief faces scrutiny

The school board passed the 2003-04 budget.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The New Castle Area School Board is taking a hard look at the district superintendent after learning that he supplied interview questions and answers to a school business administrator candidate.
School board member Larry Nord asked for Superintendent George Gabriel's resignation or termination at a special board meeting Monday.
The motion was tabled and later rescinded on the advice of district Solicitor Charles Sapienza.
Sapienza said this morning that he recommended the board not act on Nord's motion because all school employees are afforded due process.
He said if the board is seeking Gabriel's termination, formal charges must be brought and a personnel hearing held.
What happened
Nord's request for the superintendent's resignation came as a result of another personnel hearing in which schools business manager Roger Havey was fired last week.
The board terminated Havey after it determined he altered an Act 34 Clearance, a document required by all school districts that outlines an employee's criminal background. Havey contends he altered the document to not show a theft conviction from 1990 at Gabriel's request. Gabriel denies that he asked Havey to change the document.
But Havey and Gabriel did agree and testified that Gabriel supplied Havey with questions and suggested answers for his interview with the school board last year before he was hired as business manager.
Gabriel said he gave Havey the questions and suggested answers because Havey was apprehensive about the interview.
The superintendent said the questions and answers would have been available to the three other job candidates if they asked for them. None asked, he added.
Nord said this morning he asked for Gabriel's resignation in light of that testimony.
Sapienza said the school board is expected to meet privately again to discuss the matter. He said no decision has been made.
Budget approved
In other business Monday, the school board approved the $33.6 million budget for the 2003-2004 school year.
Gabriel said a few changes were made since the budget was introduced last month, including the reinstatement of three positions eliminated last year when the district faced a budget deficit.
Those positions are an assistant principal, one secretary and one custodian. Gabriel said they have not determined the buildings where the positions will be placed.
The 2003-04 budget is 2.8 percent more than the previous year. The school district took the maximum 10 percent real estate tax increase allowed by law.
The millage rate was set at 17.27. One mill of tax equals about $559,000 in revenue.