Application process for McKeesport Area School District superintendent underway following controversy

By Megan Tomasic / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Several candidates have applied to serve as the McKeesport Area School District’s superintendent, months after the Allegheny County district was thrust into the spotlight amid controversy around an ongoing sexual assault investigation.

By Friday, 10 applications had been received by the district, Solicitor Gary Matta confirmed. The update came nearly a month after school directors contracted with Mt. Lebanon-based consultant Albert Educational Consulting to help with the search.

The consultant at the end of the month will begin looking through applications and at data collected through an online survey where residents can give input on what qualities they want to see in the district’s leader. From there, the consultant, administrators and school directors will pare down the application list by watching video resumes and conducting several interviews.

It was not immediately clear when a final decision could be made.

But it was seemingly a positive update after months of turmoil in the district of nearly 3,100 students. Controversy started in August when former Superintendent Tia Wanzo resigned — she will receive a one-year salary of $173,250 — after allegedly failing to report inappropriate sexual contact between high school security guard Alexis Brown and a student until two months after learning about it. Ms. Brown was charged in January.

An internal investigation accuses Ms. Wanzo, the high school principal and a teacher of not reporting the sexual contact between the security guard and the underage student.

By September, Mr. Matta said Loudermill hearings had been held for four employees, not including Ms. Wanzo because she resigned. The hearings resulted in three being moved from paid leave to unpaid leave. A fourth employee, an administrator, was reinstated because they weren’t involved in the situation, Mr. Matta said.

Now, the three will “each have a different process of a legal recourse that they can take,” Mr. Matta said. “Each one of those are in different statuses at this point.”

In addition, Brenda Sawyer, former chief of school police, was suspended after she was arrested and charged last month with theft and other offenses related to the misuse of money from her former job at the state Attorney General’s Office. Ray Andrekanic was named acting police chief.

“Her status as an employee will be addressed once she goes through that [legal] process,” Mr. Matta said. “Everybody's entitled to a day in court.”

He noted that information in the sexual assault case was turned over to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which will decide if an investigation is warranted.

In the meantime, William Pettigrew, a former superintendent for the Mars Area School District, has been serving as interim superintendent.

“Clearly,” Mr. Matta said, “Dr. Pettigrew has taken control of the district and is doing a good job, and has steadied the ship.”