TRUMBULL COUNTY Niles school board picks new McKinley principal

The board also conducted an interview for the district's top administrative job.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- Students at the high school will see a familiar face in the principal's office after members of the board of education voted 3-2 to appoint Mark J. Pallante to the position.
Pallante, who has served as assistant principal at Niles McKinley High School since 1998, will assume the new duties Monday. The board also voted at Monday night's special meeting to grant Pallante a two-year administrative contract for the position, effective Aug. 1 through July 31, 2006.
Board members Nick Bernard, Marlene O. Rhodes and John Tricomi voted in favor of Pallante's recommendation, made by Superintendent Patrick N. Guliano. Board President John H. Davis and Vice President Wanda Burns cast the dissenting votes.
Davis offered no comment on his decision, but Burns said she was against Guliano's making the recommendation because he is leaving the district at the end of July. Guliano is resigning his post at that time.
Burns said a committee consisting of herself, Rhodes and a representative from the Trumbull County Educational Service Center had conducted a round of interviews and recommended Robert L. Marino, the principal of Niles Middle School and the only other applicant, for the job.
State law
Guliano, however, conducted a second round of interviews because state law requires him to make a recommendation to the board in the employment of any administrator in the district.
"I have nothing but positive things to say about either candidate; they are both sons of the community," Guliano said after the meeting, adding that he simply thought Pallante was the better candidate.
In other matters, the board went into executive session to interview the sole applicant for Guliano's post. Rocco Adduci, current superintendent with Weathersfield Local Schools, had been offered the position earlier this year.
Board members voted 3-2 in February -- with Bernard and Rhodes dissenting -- to hire Adduci as assistant superintendent for the district through July 31, with the idea he would take over once Guliano left.
The board, however, had made the offer of employment without getting the recommendation of the current superintendent, as is required by law. Adduci, who had told The Vindicator in February that he was not sure if he would accept the top job if it were offered again, did not comment before his interview with the board.
slshaulis@vindy.com