Belle Vernon Area SD board approves assistant superintendent and principal hires after split votes

The Belle Vernon Area School District board on Feb. 17 approved multiple personnel contracts, recognized a new official sport and cleared routine consent items during a meeting that included debate over the timeline and review of a proposed assistant superintendent contract.

The board approved the appointment of Eric Noor as assistant superintendent by a roll-call vote that the minutes show as 7 in favor and 2 opposed. Before that final vote, a motion to table items 1 and 2 (the assistant-superintendent appointment and related items) so board members could review the contract failed on a roll-call vote (the motion to table recorded a 5–4 split in the meeting record). Director Kelly Rodriguez said she voted against immediate approval and stated she preferred tabling because the contract was provided on short notice and the position should have been advertised.

The board unanimously approved Brennan Green as elementary school principal, effective July 1, by a 9–0 roll-call vote. The board also approved contract renewals or new hires for district technology positions (transcript lists a contract reauthorization for Jeff Adams, system administrator, and a cash contract for Dave Aria, network systems administrator). Those technology contract entries in the transcript include per‑annum salary numbers that appear garbled in the audio-to-text record; the meeting packet or the signed contracts should be consulted for the authoritative salary and effective-date text.

In other business, the board recognized team gymnastics as an official sport for the coming year by voice vote and approved a broad consent agenda of field trips, the school calendar, program of studies, a nurse agreement, bills and routine personnel items.

Votes at a glance

- Assistant superintendent (Eric Noor): approved, roll-call reported 7 yes, 2 no. Transcript lists a proposed annual salary of $130,000 in the agenda language; the contract term printed in the transcript appears garbled and the board discussed needing time to review the contract before voting.

- Brennan Green, elementary school principal: approved, roll-call 9–0, effective July 1 per agenda language.

- Jeff Adams, system administrator (contract reauthorization): approved, roll-call outcome in transcript 8–1; salary/effective-date text in transcript appears garbled and should be verified in the personnel packet.

- Dave Aria, network systems administrator (cash contract): approved by roll-call; transcript salary line appears garbled and should be verified in the contract packet.

- Team gymnastics: recognized as an official sport by voice vote.

Several board members asked for additional time to review personnel contracts and raised process concerns about notice and advertisement for certain positions; those concerns were part of the discussion that preceded the motions and roll-call votes. No hired administrator spoke during the vote portion of the meeting, and the board did not take any immediate additional action to re-open advertisement for the assistant-superintendent posting.

The meeting packet and signed contract documents referenced during the session should be consulted for the precise effective dates and salary figures that the audio transcript renders inconsistently.