Ringgold board gives Skrinjorich more power

By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com
Ringgold School Board decided to approve several measures Wednesday night despite the district superintendent’s objections.
The motions mainly seem to involve giving Randall Skrinjorich, director of operations and financial services, more authority regarding employees and administrators in the district, including Superintendent Megan Marie Van Fossan.
Van Fossan told the board several motions appeared on the agenda that she was not involved with and was in fact only informed of them days before the meeting.
Board member Larry Mauro asked the board to consider waiting to discuss the issues more because “I think they have enormous implications.”
“The motions cite the fact that ‘the human resources function in the school district is disjointed and should be better coordinated,’” Van Fossan said. “… one of my earliest recommendations was to hire a qualified HR director to manage this function as I noted several inconsistencies and inefficiencies from the start. I was told by the business office at the time that this was not financially possible.”
Van Fossan said she has implemented several improvements that were not reflected in the motions.
The board passed a resolution 8-1, with Mauro casting the dissenting vote, to authorize Skrinjorich, with the help of Anthony Piscioneri, human resources manager/executive assistant to the superintendent, to “study the structure of the human resources of the school district” and report his findings.
It also gives Skrinjorich the “power and authority to schedule and conduct personnel matters including investigative interviews regarding employee matters and complaints.”
The resolution also gives Skrinjorich the authority to impose disciplinary suspensions, suspensions pending discharge and reassignments “as may be reasonably necessary with the legal advice of counsel.”
Van Fossan said while Piscioneri has taken on some HR responsibilities out of necessity, he does not have the educational background or the professional experience to serve as an adviser at this level.
Van Fossan added that the disjointed human resources processes mentioned in the motion are actually “long-standing practices that I inherited and have since tried to remedy and address.”
“These measures give the director of operations and financial services authority over several traditional HR responsibilities with the advice of legal counsel,” Van Fossan said.
She asked if the district can’t afford a qualified HR director, how the board can justify the expense of Skrinjorich contacting legal counsel frequently at a lawyer’s hourly rate.
The board also approved a motion, 8-1 with Mauro voting no, that calls for the superintendent to prepare a written contingency plan as to which employees will act in the event of absences by administrators and “in the absence of the superintendent (Skrinjorich) shall assume all duties and authority and is hereby invested with all power and authority of the superintendent except for such duties or powers that are specifically reserved to an individual who has a particular certification.”

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Thursday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.