Community member criticizes board hiring and spending; cites Pennsylvania School Code and raises equity concerns

During the public‑comment portion of the Dec. 12 McKeesport Area School District board meeting, community member Cynthia Haybalt criticized the board’s handling of a recent personnel matter and questioned district expenditures and process.

Haybalt said her concern was not the competence of the person hired as assistant to the superintendent (identified in the meeting as Mr. Moles), but rather that the board paid approximately $130,000 for the position while, in her view, failing to maintain a superintendent "in commission" during a personnel investigation. She said: "My concern is not that Mr. Moles was hired or with the job he is doing. It is about the actions of the school board and hiring someone who at the time was not in commission and could not serve as superintendent while they were investigating the current superintendent." Haybalt added that she welcomed empathy shown to Mr. Moles but contrasted that with what she described as a lack of empathy toward a Black woman who had served the district.

Haybalt also discussed an incident she described involving "Doctor Wanzo" (also referred to in her remarks as "Doctor Wanda" in adjacent lines of the transcript). She said the principal had been directed to report an incident to child protective services, that the principal delayed several days before doing so, and that the security officer involved had been moved to another school. She said some in the community perceived the district’s treatment of that employee as harsher than other examples she cited from law enforcement, and she said: "Many in the community believe that your actions against Doctor. Wanda were vindictive and not because of your concern for our children... Many in the community feel deservedly or not that Doctor. Wanda was dragged through the mud because she is a Black woman and that this would not have occurred if she was a white man."

Haybalt raised additional procedural questions about public participation in board meetings, saying she had been told by the solicitor that questions would be permitted only during the public‑speakers portion and that green agenda sheets must be available early enough for citizens to review and sign up. She told the board: "Instead of providing a system which encourages the community to be more involved... it appears that more and more roadblocks are erected to stop participation." She framed many of her remarks in terms of fiduciary duty and cited the Pennsylvania School Code’s responsibilities for school boards, listing duties such as setting budgets, hiring personnel, and keeping the community informed.

The transcript does not record a substantive response from the board during Haybalt’s comments. Her remarks concluded with a call for the board to work collaboratively with the community and for attention to classroom resources, contract disputes and school safety.

All direct quotes and paraphrased assertions in this report come from Haybalt’s public‑comment remarks as recorded in the meeting transcript.