Saucon Valley School Board members shortened Superintendent Jaime Vlasaty\u2019s proposed contract extension from five years to four and then passed the modified version amid staunch opposition from community members Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
The new contract will run from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2030, and will raise Vlasaty\u2019s salary to $205,000. The board also approved a 3% annual salary increase that brings her current pay to $182,687.<\/p>\n
While Board President Cedric Dettmar and others strongly endorsed Vlasaty\u2019s leadership, concerns about teacher turnover and burnout dominated discussion both in public comment and in audience conversations held while board members adjourned to a mid-meeting executive session.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see teachers every day that are upset with their jobs,\u201d junior Donald Flores said during public comment.<\/p>\n
Fellow junior Gavin Murphy told The Morning Call that the district has great teachers who are overwhelmed, often due to new class assignments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey need consistency,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cThey need to stop getting moved around.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meghan Lomangino, who won a board seat in last week\u2019s general election and will take office next month, told The Morning Call that the last time a board meeting saw such high turnout was in the spring, after nearly one-third of the teaching staff received new assignments.<\/p>\n
Lomangino said she is not aware of exit interviews or other data that would identify why teachers are leaving. She\u2019s heard complaints about micromanagement, and she hopes that serving on the board will allow her to better understand how district leadership is affecting teachers and administrators.<\/p>\n
Lomangino was one of two newly elected board members who were not able to vote on the superintendent\u2019s contract extension due to its scheduling three weeks before the December reorganization meeting.<\/p>\n
In public comment, Lomangino called on current board members to include all stakeholder perspectives when considering the contract extension.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just asking that you include any due diligence that you have in these conversations,\u201d Lomangino said.<\/p>\n
Fellow newly elected board member J. Christian Tatu said he felt discouraged listening to current board members say that newly elected members were not qualified to vote on the contract extension.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, I\u2019m going home tonight a lot less hopeful,\u201d Tatu said.<\/p>\n
Board member Bill Broun unsuccessfully attempted to table the contract discussion due to his concerns about its rushed scheduling. The day after Election Day, board members received notice that the superintendent\u2019s contract extension would be added to Tuesday\u2019s agenda, a move Broun called a \u201cdisgusting post-election stunt\u201d in a Nov. 6 blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s simply disgusting and cynical and juvenile to shut the new board members out of this important decision, particularly when two of the three co-sponsors of the agenda item \u2014 based on the information I have \u2014 won\u2019t be on the board come December!\u201d Broun wrote.<\/p>\n Dettmar confirmed during Tuesday\u2019s meeting that board members John Conte, Tracy Magnotta and Laurel Erickson-Parsons had requested the agenda item be added. Conte and Magnotta are finishing their terms this month.<\/p>\n Debate about job performance<\/p>\n The district\u2019s website reports that Vlasaty received her latest performance evaluation two weeks ago, stating: \u201cConsistent with the Public School Code, the Saucon Valley School District Board of School Directors met with Superintendent Jaime Vlasaty on October 28, 2025, to review her agreed-to objective performance standards. The District is pleased to report that the superintendent successfully met her goals for the 2024\u20132025 school year.\u201d<\/p>\n Online commentators have not been as pleased with Vlasaty\u2019s performance. A change.org petition<\/a> filed by \u201cParents of Saucon Valley\u201d in March 2024 called for her termination, citing low morale and high teacher turnover. The petition drew more than 780 signatures.<\/p>\n Ed Kolosky, a former district educator and coach, said during public comment that fear of retaliation had affected administrators and job shifts had demoralized staff.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have destroyed the morale of our staff,\u201d Kolosky said, \u201cand to me that\u2019s the worst thing you could ever do.\u201d<\/p>\n Vlasaty\u2019s defenders Tuesday night included former board member Susan Baxter, who praised the superintendent\u2019s intelligence and dedication.<\/p>\n \u201cShe is matter-of-fact and a straight shooter,\u201d Baxter said. \u201cYou can depend on her.\u201d<\/p>\n School Board President Shamim Pakzad said he is satisfied with how the district has been run, noting that its strong financial position stands in contrast to districts that have struggled to weather the state budget impasse.<\/p>\n \u201cThe superintendent, as the CEO of their district, gets a lot of credit for that,\u201d Pakzad said.<\/p>\n Board members Vivian Demko and Jay Santos joined Broun in voting against the contract extension.<\/p>\n \u201cI strongly believe there\u2019s not one person in this room that\u2019s happy about this contract,\u201d Demko said.<\/p>\n The new contract includes a negotiation window that starts July 1, 2029, and runs through Aug. 31, 2029. In that period, the board and the superintendent can either negotiate a new contract or agree to a separation.<\/p>\n That provision was added when board members changed the contract proposal from a five-year extension to a four-year extension. Lomangino told The Morning Call that the new language should be beneficial in bringing more transparency to negotiations.<\/p>\n Vlasaty\u2019s previous experience<\/p>\n Vlasaty came to the Saucon Valley School District in 2018 as the Director of Special Education. She resigned that position with the Easton Area School District in September 2017 when that district appointed new leaders for the department.<\/p>\n A separation agreement obtained by lehighvalleylive.com<\/a> showed Vlasaty received more than $36,000 in accrued sick, vacation and personal days and was entitled to keep drawing her Easton Area School District salary until her resignation became effective on Dec. 31, 2017.<\/p>\n The agreement prohibited Vlasaty and the district from making \u201ccritical or denigrating statements about the other,\u201d lehighvalleylive.com reported.<\/p>\n In September 2020, Saucon Valley promoted Vlasaty to assistant to the superintendent, with a three-year contract and an annual salary of $124,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vlasaty became acting superintendent in October 2021. Her salary was adjusted to $132,000, and the board approved additional monthly compensation for assuming the duties of acting superintendent<\/a>.<\/p>\n Following a search process, Vlasaty earned a promotion to superintendent in February 2022, with a four-year contract expiring June 30, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n The most well-known controversy of Vlasaty\u2019s tenure came in 2023, when she rescinded permission for the After School Satan Club to meet in district space, a move that sparked a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union and The Satanic Temple Inc., resulting in a $200,000 settlement between the school district and the club<\/a>.<\/p>\n Flyers promoting the club explained The Satanic Temple as a \u201cnon-theistic religion that views Satan as a literary figure who represents a metaphorical construct of rejecting tyranny and championing the human mind and spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAfter School Satan Club does not attempt to convert children to any religious ideology,\u201d the flyers read. \u201cInstead, The Satanic Temple supports children to think for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertised club activities included science projects, community service and crafts.<\/p>\n Vlasaty initially notified parents that the district had previously allowed religious groups to rent space and could not legally discriminate among groups wishing to use district facilities<\/a>. She then rescinded that permission, claiming the club violated school board policy by not clearly communicating it was not district-sponsored.<\/p>\n