Campbell rejections explained

The high school principal said he wouldn't have believed this could happen.
& lt;a href=mailto:kubik@vindy.com & gt;By MARALINE KUBIK & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CAMPBELL -- Why didn't the board of education renew contracts for the superintendent, a principal and the director of special education?
Parents, grandparents, students, former students, teachers and administrators packed the middle school cafeteria Friday evening hoping to find out.
During the special meeting organized by the district's Parent Teacher Organizations, those in attendance had the opportunity to single out board members and ask them why they voted as they did.
The meeting was organized in response to the large number of inquiries officers of the PTO received from parents after the board of education failed to renew the contracts.
Vote on superintendent
Diana Petruska, board vice president, and board member Dominic Medina voted against renewing Superintendent James A. Ciccolelli's contract during a regular meeting Tuesday. Robert Dolan, board president, and board member Beth Donofrio voted to renew the superintendent's contract.
Board member Karen Repasky was absent but told The Vindicator the next day that had she been present, she would have voted against renewing the contract.
During the March 30 meeting, the board defeated by a 3-2 vote recommendations by the superintendent to renew a three-year contract for Kathleen Yeloushan, principal of kindergarten through eighth grade, and a one-year contract for John Gulgas, director of special education.
Petruska, Medina and Repasky voted against renewing those contracts; Dolan and Donofrio voted for renewals.
"If you had told me three weeks ago that what has transpired was going to happen, I wouldn't have believed it," said Richard Gozur, principal of Campbell Memorial High School.
Jim Vargo, a former mayor of Campbell, told the board that Ciccolelli "is a workaholic. He gets things done."
During the time Vargo was mayor, Campbell was in fiscal emergency and Ciccolelli served on city council, Vargo said. "So that I wouldn't have to work with everybody on council, I asked for one person. ... He served as the go-between between me and council."
Campbell came out of fiscal emergency in only 18 months, Vargo said, attributing much of that achievement to Ciccolelli.
"If he goes, the school system goes," Vargo said.
His remarks were met with a roar of applause from the audience.
Outside hiring
Other audience members expressed concern that hiring a superintendent from outside Campbell -- Ciccolelli is a Campbell native -- would not bode well for the school system because the outsider would not have a vested interest in the community.
Audience members also suggested that the best qualified people would not apply for a post in a small district that could not afford to pay a hefty salary.
When asked why she would prefer to hire a superintendent from outside the area, a point Repasky has stressed on several occasions, she said that what she wants is for the district to move forward more quickly and reintroduce arts and music programs that were eliminated.
A new superintendent, she said, might help speed progress.
& lt;a href=mailto:kubik@vindy.com & gt;kubik@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;