NORTHAMPTON, Pa. — Some Northampton Area School Board members want Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik to rethink his retirement at the end of the school year — a decision he announced this month.
The same directors said at a Tuesday meeting they fear school board dysfunction will keep potential candidates away from the job if Kovalchik moves on as he intends.
They also accused their colleagues of causing the “chaos” that spurred Kovalchik’s decision to retire in the first place.
“I am very proud of what we were able to accomplish as a District over my time as the Superintendent."Northampton Area Schools Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik
Because of a Northampton Area School District event, Kovalchik didn’t attend the special meeting.
But he responded to LehighValleyNews.com’s questions in a Wednesday emailed statement, calling on the board to “come together for the good of the District and their overall well being.”
Kovalchik said he will follow up with school directors about the conversations at Tuesday's meeting.
The superintendent did not respond directly to questions about whether he’d consider staying in his role but spoke about his approaching retirement, set for July 1 and approved by the board Nov. 11.
His wife Terry also plans to retire next summer from her role as a district reading specialist.
“I am very proud of what we were able to accomplish as a District over my time as the Superintendent,” Kovalchik said.
No quorum, no vote
Only four board members were at what became an informal meeting Tuesday. Because there weren’t enough school directors for a quorum, no board action was taken.
The school directors in attendance were: John Becker, Michael Baird, Ross Makary and Board President Doug Vaughn.
"They obviously don’t take this as seriously as the rest of us do."Doug Vaughn, Northampton Area School Board President
All other board members told Vaughn they were busy and could not attend the special meeting, he said. Vaughn believes those school directors colluded to be absent.
“They obviously don’t take this as seriously as the rest of us do,” Vaughn said.
LehighValleyNews.com spoke with some of those school directors by phone after the meeting, including Board Vice President Kristin Soldridge and directors Joshua Harris, Nathan Lichtenwalner and Brian McCulloch.
They denied Vaughn’s accusations and attributed their absences to work and personal obligations, noting the upcoming Thanksgiving Day holiday.
Efforts to reach school director Kim Bretzik were unsuccessful.
“It’s pretty sad that the other five, all of them, are so busy that they don’t care about our school district,” said resident Marianne Hetrick, of Lehigh Township, at the meeting.
Soldridge, Harris and McCulloch said that paying to advertise and hold the special meeting a week before the next regularly scheduled board meeting was unnecessary and a waste of taxpayer money.
McCulloch also called the meeting a “performance” orchestrated by Vaughn before he is “removed as president” next week.
“He wanted to get up on his bully pulpit one more time to talk about how he doesn’t like us and how bad we are,” McCulloch said.
The next board meeting is 6:15 p.m. Dec. 2 in the auditorium of Northampton Area High School.
School directors will vote on the board president and vice president appointments for the next year.
'Aggressive' timeline'
But Vaughn said school directors are working on an “aggressive” timeline to hire a superintendent and the special meeting was needed to stay on track.
He said the board must hire someone by March to give the person enough time to complete any holding period with their current district before taking over in Northampton Area when Kovalchik retires July 1.
Vaughn wanted to vote at next week’s meeting on which path forward the board would take for hiring someone.
That vote now likely will be pushed to January, he said, delaying the hiring process, which includes advertising the position, interviewing candidates and potentially engaging the community.
School directors discussed Tuesday the need for an interim superintendent if they can’t hire someone in time.
Harris said he’s not concerned about the timeline for hiring a superintendent, noting the board just accepted Kovalchik’s resignation earlier this month.
He said it’s a process about which the board should begin thinking, but not one that warranted a special meeting.
Moving forward on the hiring process, school directors can either lead their own recruitment and hiring process or have an outside firm do it.
Baird said the district likely will have to offer a superintendent an annual salary of $180,000 or more to attract a qualified candidate. Kovalchik, who is in his 15th year as chief of schools, is paid $204,000.
Baird said he worries someone will use the role as a stepping stone without intentions of staying for the long haul as Kovalchik has done.
Candidates will do their research
School directors at the meeting also expressed concerns that potential candidates will be turned off from working in the district altogether because of tensions on the board.
“I know that people that are going to apply are going to do their background work, and they’re going to know why Joe’s retiring early, and that concerns me,” Becker said.
"I know that people that are going to apply are going to do their background work, and they’re going to know why Joe’s retiring early, and that concerns me."John Becker, Northampton Area School Board member
Kovalchik said Wednesday there are many reasons why he is retiring, and he will discuss those “in more detail as my last day approaches.”
He said there’s still “much challenging work” for him and the district to do in the meantime and that should be the priority.
“I will say that it is pretty obvious that this District is facing major decisions and challenges which has caused tension, a lack of trust from some, and emotions to rise to high levels,” Kovalchik said.
“Obviously, this is not a good combination when you are trying to work as a team.”
Baird also said at the Tuesday meeting that the board often is split 5-4 on votes with the same groups of school directors voting together. That dynamic “scares candidates away,” he said.
“No one in their right mind is going to look at this school district, and say, ‘Yeah, I want to come in here and be part of that,’” Marc Kercsmar, a Lehigh Township resident, said during public comment.
“And that truly is a reflection of the actions that have been going on by some members of the board for the last year.”
Kovalchik said via email that school directors don’t have to agree on everything, but they need to “coexist” for the benefit of the school district.
“Hopefully this will occur sooner than later,” he said.
Tension between superintendent, board
At the Tuesday meeting, school directors repeatedly attributed Kovalchik’s retirement to their absent colleagues, saying those school directors make the chief of schools job more difficult than it needs to be.
“If Joe is tired of the tension on our board, maybe,” Harris said in response. “But that’s not one-sided.”
Baird said Kovalchik’s time as of late has been spent “putting out fires” caused by board members rather than focusing on educational concerns.
Vaughn said the five absent school directors don’t respect the superintendent and have questioned his actions publicly.
“That is their opinion,” Soldridge said in response. “That is completely false. No one is forcing Mr. Kovalchik to resign.”
“That is their opinion. That is completely false. No one is forcing Mr. Kovalchik to resign.”Kristin Soldridge, Northampton Area School Board Vice President
Soldridge said school directors have asked Kovalchik necessary questions about facilities plans in the past few months as the board ultimately decided to operate five elementary schools.
This decision kept Moore Elementary open amid construction of a new school in East Allen Township.
Vaughn said he would prefer Kovalchik to stay in his current role.
He also said it’s unlikely other Northampton Area administrators are willing to take on the job because they’ve seen Kovalchik’s experience with the current board.
Will Kovalchik stay?
The public will need to pressure school directors to change their attitudes toward Kovalchik for him to consider staying, Becker said.
Makary believes it would be best for the district’s students and the board itself if Kovalchik decided to stay, he said.
“This is the problem — this board,” Makary said. “The rest of this district is running fantastic.”
Harris, Lichtenwalner, McCulloch and Soldridge said Kovalchik shouldn’t be pressured into staying as superintendent, but he can let the board know if he’s changed his mind about leaving.
“If he is ready to retire, who are we to ask him to stay?” Soldridge said.
As for the future of the school board, Lichtenwalner said it's time for the school directors to “have unity.”
