Riverside School Board appointed the district\u2019s longtime superintendent to a new position in which leaders say he will secure funding and ensure operations run smoothly.<\/p>\n
A divided board appointed Paul Brennan as chief adviser for district excellence and engagement last week. Board members voted 5-3 to approve an eight-year contract beginning July 1 and running through June 30, 2034. Board Treasurer Mary Antoniacci McHugh abstained, while board President Anthony Mattioli, Vice President Laura Kobeski, Brandi Luckasavage, Marion Maurer and Mary Burke voted in favor of the appointment, and Secretary Barbara Fedor, Linda Joyce and Carol Armstrong voted against it.\n<\/p>\n
Brennan will be in charge of securing outside funding and advancing district initiatives, and will provide continuity during administrative, faculty and district transitions. He will also advise the board and administration on strategic initiatives, innovation and long-range planning, provide advisory support during audits, compliance reviews and organizational assessments, and support community engagement and help highlight district accomplishments. The new position comes with a salary increase: Brennan will earn $165,000, an increase of $11,000, or 7%, from his current salary of $154,000.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chief Advisor role is intentionally broad and designed to provide long-term stability, institutional knowledge, and strategic support for the district,\u201d Brennan said in an email to district faculty last week.<\/p>\n
He will report to the board, filing a quarterly report on grants he has applied for, their progress and how grant funds have been spent. While Brennan, 50, will consult on hirings, Mattioli said Brennan won\u2019t be a decision-maker, nor will he be part of the day-to-day administration of the district, except to step in during the absence of an administrator. Brennan\u2019s new position won\u2019t affect the district\u2019s current administrative structure, under which building principals and central office administrators report to the superintendent. The superintendent reports to the board.<\/p>\n
Brennan\u2019s appointment was not listed on the agenda of last week\u2019s meeting. Mattioli said Monday board members had discussed the position for almost a year. They decided to add the item to the meeting\u2019s agenda because most of the board believed it was important to act now in order to post the superintendent position in a timely and transparent fashion.<\/p>\n
Board members voted 5-3 \u2014 Burke, Kobeski, Luckasavage, Mattioli and Maurer in favor, Armstrong, Fedor and Joyce\u00a0against and McHugh abstaining \u2014 to add the item to the agenda.\n<\/p>\n
McHugh declined to comment on why she abstained from the votes. Attempts to reach the seven other board members about their votes were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
Mattioli said Brennan will focus on applying for federal and local grants alongside EDU Consulting LLC, whom the board hired in November to focus on getting state grants. However, he said Brennan will only work at Riverside, while the consultant works with other districts.<\/p>\n
Mattioli said Brennan\u2019s record of obtaining grants for the district \u2014 and saving it money in the process \u2014 will help in his new position, particularly as grants have become more competitive. He also said Brennan\u2019s experience in the district makes him ideal to temporarily step in to a position if needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would be able to step in and help us out,\u201d Mattioli said.<\/p>\n
He expects the board will vote to post the superintendent position at their regular meeting next month and hopes to hire someone by July 1.<\/p>\n
Brennan has led the district since 2013. The 1993 Riverside High School graduate has worked in the district since 2001, holding positions as a teacher, coach and as principal of Riverside Elementary West.\n<\/p>\n
District leaders said the new position will help the district on its upward trajectory. Brennan said since 2014, the district\u2019s record for receiving grants and the general fund balance has trended upward, with the general fund balance going from a negative amount to $6.65 million and taxes haven\u2019t gone up in five years.<\/p>\n
Brennan said in an email the new role will allow him to continue serving the district by allowing him to work inside the schools while aggressively advocating for the district.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom day one, my focus has been visibility, service, and building a strong district brand and that commitment remains unchanged,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cI\u2019m extremely thankful for the board\u2019s trust and foresight. On my family\u2019s end, this solidifies an opportunity for me to truly be a Viking for life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Riverside School Board appointed the district\u2019s longtime superintendent to a new position in which leaders say he will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[227,201,182,1214,139,28,178,180,179,4168,181],"class_list":["post-91695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-education","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-moosic","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-taylor","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}