Northern Cambria School Board to advertise for superintendent candidates

Joshua Byers, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·2 min read

NORTHERN CAMBRIA, Pa. – The position of Northern Cambria School District superintendent will officially be advertised after the school board passed a 5-4 motion Tuesday.

Prior to the action, board members Jennifer Zeanchock and Michael Vasil noted that they’d already agreed to negotiate new terms with Superintendent Laura Fisanick.

Both cast dissenting votes, along with Carol Lieb and Danyelle Hoover.

“I just want to remind the board that we already passed a motion back in April to enter into negotiations with Dr. Fisanick, and I would like to hold true to the motion,” Zeanchock said.

Vasil said that he didn’t think it was right to advertise the position while attempting to negotiate with Fisanick.

He said that negotiations done while seeking candidates would not be done in good faith.

At the April meeting, the board voted unanimously to notify Fisanick that her contract would not be renewed and other candidates would be sought.

They followed that motion by approving the board to enter into negotiations with Fisanick for a contract to start in July 2025.

The board agreed at Tuesday’s meeting to join the negotiation committee to discuss terms with the superintendent.

Fisanick said she did not want to comment on the matter at this time.

During the public comment period, former board member Nora Hrubochak lauded Fisanick’s time at the school district, such as development of curriculum mapping, and her 37 years of experience in education, and questioned the motivation of not extending the contract and advertising the position.

Hrubochak also asked how the board expected to negotiate in good faith while seeking other applicants to lead the schools.

“The district deserves a committed leader, and I believe Dr. Fisanick is such,” Hrubochak said.

The school directors also approved the expenditure of $204,795 from Hardware Specialties of DuBois for door hardware in the building addition. This purchase was voted down at the April meeting.

Axis Architecture President Hank Tkacik said that the expenditure was left out of the initial project bid because the hardware needed to match existing door infrastructure in the elementary/middle school.

The group also approved the $8,526 cost for a security option that will allow doors in the addition to be held open magnetically and automatically shut in case of an intruder.

The school directors also hired Jeffrey Smith as maintenance director after accepting the resignation of John Messina, effective June 1, at the April meeting.