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Owners ‘ax-ited’ about opening The Hatchet Factory in Forty Fort

TimesLeader20190726E001

How To 2019

<p>WRIGHT TWP. &#8212; The Crestwood School Board hired a new superintendent on Thursday, Robert Mehalick, who has roots in Luzerne County.</p><p>The vote to confirm Mehalick was 8-0 among the school directors present. Only Director Randy Swank was absent.</p><p>Board Chairman Bill Jones said Mehalick was among the three final candidates for the superintendent&#8217;s post, which came open when the board decided in December 2018 to suspend then-superintendent Joseph Gorham.</p><p>In selecting Mehalick, Jones said the board is offering him a three-year contract at $115,000 per year. A pact between Mehalick and the school district is being formulated by solicitor Jack Dean.</p><p>In addition, Jones said Mehalick&#8217;s official association with Crestwood will begin once he is released from Carbondale Area School District, where he is the superintendent.</p><p>Jones said Mehalick&#8217;s resume includes being a resident of Sugarloaf Township and a member of the Hazleton Area School Board.</p><p>When asked about the status of Joseph Rasmus, who has been serving as acting superintendent during the interval of Gorham&#8217;s suspension, Jones said that Rasmus still has two years left on his contract and can continue in the post he was originally hired for as assistant principal.</p><p>On other issues:</p><p>&#8226; Director Barry Boone, chairman of the policy committee, reiterated a policy effective for the 2019-20 term that only children of residents of the Crestwood district will be transmitted by district buses to non-public schools. Boone added that liability issues are at the root of the policy.</p><p>&#8226; Boone also stated that organizations outside of the school district cannot conduct fundraising projects on behalf of the district.</p><p>&#8226; The board accepted the resignation of Michael Bannon as assistant athletic director.</p><p>&#8226; Among the payments to firms for contracted work at the fieldhouse, the board approved payments of $133,373 to Scandale Associates Builders and Engineers, Dickson City; $47,250 to Kobalt Construction, Swiftwater; $13,384 and $8,305 to Scranton Electric Heating and Cooling for two payment increments. The funds were remitted from the capital projects fund.</p><p>&#8226; At the outset of the meeting, a moment of silence was observed in remembrance of the late director Joseph Kaminski, who succumbed recently to cancer.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Huntington</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Crestwood selects Mehalick as school district superintendent