P'burg board cleans house 3 lose their posts as result of late-night school board meeting. Wednesday, June 27, 2007 • By DANIEL HAUSMANN • The Express-Times PHILLIPSBURG | In what may best be described as a midnight massacre, three top-level school officials were given their walking papers. Superintendent Gordon Pethick learned he's finished effective June 30, 2008, after nine years as the chief school administrator. Marian Trapani is done immediately as director of whole school reform and special projects. School board attorney Don Morrow is out at the end of the week. All three found out about the school board's plans at Monday night's marathon meeting that ran into early Tuesday. The terminations came after heated debate that showed exactly how divided the school board is and where the lines of division are. Pethick's ouster, the last, came about midnight. On virtually all three issues, board President Paul Rummerfield, Thomas McGuire, Kevin DeGerolamo, Bernie Brotzman, Patricia Babcock, Jim Hanisak, Sal Patti and Rich Turdo were pitted against Steve Zarbatany, Frank Kish, Christopher Wittman and Stanley Hughes. On the Pethick vote, Rummerfield, Hanisak, Brotzman and Zarbatany recused themselves because they have family who work in the district. Babcock abstained. The vote against renewing Pethick was 4-3. The board's action on Pethick had been looming for months. Since last fall, Pethick has had several run-ins with board members. Allegations of collusion with the former board labor attorney, rejected ethics complaints and a vote of no confidence dogged the 58-year-old administrator. Rummerfield said the situation didn't bode well for Pethick after he neglected to notify Principal Jeanette Gilliland by a statutory deadline in May that she was being let go. "We've had some differences of opinion," Rummerfield said. "I think some things happened this year that showed we needed a change." 'Writing was on the wall' Morrow was the first to go -- a surprise to many because his name had not come up in recent months. The board sent out a request for proposals to law firms May 24. Donald Souders of Florio, Perrucci, Steinhardt & Fader will now be the board's attorney. Morrow did not return with the board after a 50-minute closed-door session early in the meeting. The board went without legal counsel the rest of the meeting. "I knew the writing was on the wall," Morrow said Tuesday afternoon. Rummerfield felt the board needed to streamline its legal counsel. "We needed a little more experience in labor law," Rummerfield said. Business administrator Bill Poch said Souder's firm will charge $150 per hour compared with about $145 per hour charged by Morrow's Clinton-based firm. Morrow earned $56,370 in the past school year, including an $8,500 stipend to attend school board meetings. Board attorney for 14 years, Morrow said he felt the tension between Pethick and the school board. As far as his own ouster, Morrow said these things happen. "It's a political thing," Morrow said. "With new membership on the board, you get different political views." Morrow declined to comment on what course the school board was taking the district. "I don't know what their agenda is," Morrow said. "I had a good tenure with the board. I wish them the best." Time for administration to take a cut Trapani will still have a job with the district though her position has been eliminated. As a tenured educator, she'll fall to another role in the district. Poch said she could bump back to Andover-Morris School principal. Her $112,000 position was eliminated at the urging of town council, which recommended cuts on the $61 million school budget after voters rejected it. With the additional elimination of a nontenured elementary education supervisor and a nonfunded high school assistant principal position, the board saved about $161,000. Trapani was not in her office Tuesday afternoon and could not be reached for comment. During Monday's board meeting, Rummerfield said the administration had not been touched in recent years when teachers were laid off to accommodate the budget. He said it was time for the administration to take a cut. "Marian does a very commendable job," Rummerfield said. "But can we afford this position in the future?" Pethick shook his head at the board's action on Trapani. He and Poch said they may not file a summary support letter for the budget or not sign that letter; another option involves attaching a disclaimer with the budget that is submitted to the state. Reporter Daniel Hausmann can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at dhausmann@express-times.com.