LOWER POTTSGROVE >> The school board made official Tuesday night what most have known since last week – the resignation of Superintendent Shellie A. Feola.
The board voted 6-1 to accept her resignation and buy out the remainder of her contract, which expires in June at the end of the current school year.
Feola will be paid $77,000, which is half her salary for the remaining 10 months of her contact; as well as another $73,000 for the value of unused vacation and sick-leave – bringing the total cost to about $150,000, school board President Rick Rabinowitz said in a prepared statement read before the vote.
She will continue to receive health care until the end of next June, and the agreement provided at the end of the board meeting indicates Feola will be bound by both confidentiality and “nondisparagement provisions.”
Feola was named superintendent in December 2012, after serving under her predecessor Brad Landis as assistant superintendent.
Her current five-year contract with the Pottsgrove School District expires in June 2017.
In a statement read before the vote, board member Patricia Grimm, who cast the only vote against accepting Feola’s resignation, said she disagreed with a move to accept the resignation “just three weeks prior to the start of school, just to satisfy some board members.”
Grimm said “Ms. Feola has been part of the Pottsgrove family for 10 years, and for the board to force the issue three weeks prior to school is irresponsible to our students, staff and taxpayers.”
She thanked Feola for her time and dedication, as well as for steering both the Western Montgomery Career and Technical Center as well as the Pottsgrove School District.
The board then unanimously appointed Assistant Superintendent William Shirk as interim superintendent. He will fill both posts until further notice and, as a result, receive an additional $12,000 stipend, said District Solicitor Marc Davis.
And it does not look like he will replaced anytime soon.
Board member Bill Parker made a motion to immediately begin the process to search for a new superintendent, but only supported Grimm him and the motion to begin the search process was defeated 5-2.
Rabinowitz said he believes “what the district needs now is stability” and said he believed Shirk needed the board’s support and time to settle in.
The only public comments made on the matter came from two former school board presidents, B. Scott Fulmer and Mike Neiffer.
Fulmer said the decision to part ways with Feola “was personal and the board had a vendetta against her and the former board.”
Speaking directly into the PCTV camera, Fulmer added, “Shellie, no one is going to know how much you’ve done until you’re gone, so thank you very much.”
Neiffer similarly told the board “so often you don’t know what you have until its gone.”
He said Feola “somehow became the face of the ‘Centers’ debate,” but said that initiative was the board’s and Landis’s.
When no one else got up to speak in Feola’s defense, Neiffer left saying, “Really? No one else wants to say anything? She gave us eight years. Be careful what you wish for.”
Feola was not at the meeting and was unavailable for comment.
In an email to staff last week, Feola indicated she has decided “to separate with the Pottsgrove School District Board of Education” and that she will “always cherish the years spent in Pottsgrove with the many outstanding educators and staff.”
The statement in the email, which, it is now evident, was pre-approved as part of the separation agreement, did not elaborate on Feola’s reasons for leaving her $184,000-a-year post.
It did, however, indicate that the decision to leave was “mutual” between her and the school board.
“I am proud of what we have collaboratively accomplished during my tenure for the benefit of our students. Our vision for student success has included implementation of full day kindergarten for all of our students, the development and implementation of rigorous curricula to better prepare our students for college, careers and beyond, a digital learning environment for our students which has earned us the invitation for application as an Apple Distinguished Program, and a significant and successful renovation to our high school facility to include flexible learning spaces which will serve our students for years to come,” her statement read.
“I will always cherish the years spent in Pottsgrove with the many outstanding educators and staff, and I am confident that you will continue to move the district forward in a positive direction,” she wrote.
Feola’s departure will mean that both Pottstown and Pottsgrove are beginning the school year with interim superintendents. Former Pottstown superintendent Jeff Sparagana retired at the end of June but the Pottstown board has been unable to agree on a replacement.
