LOWER POTTSGROVE PA – The switch is official.

By unanimous approval and without comment Tuesday (Aug. 11, 2009), the Pottsgrove School District Board of School Directors appointed Middle School Assistant Principal Terri Koehler as the district’s supervisor of secondary education and assessment, and former secondary education supervisor Dr. David Ramage as middle school assistant principal.

Pottsgrove Middle School.

Director Keith McCarrick, who arrived for the board’s first of two August meetings shortly after its start in the district offices on Kauffman Road, did not vote.

District Superintendent Dr. Bradley Landis earlier this week described the administrative change as a personnel matter on which he declined comment. The two related resolutions on which board members voted indicated the changes for both Koehler and Ramage were “voluntary” transfers.

In addition, each resolution made the change effective 42 days earlier, on July 1 (2009). Landis has said board members discussed the possibility of the change during a June (2009) executive session.

Ramage was hired to the district-level position in October 2008, at an annual salary of $95,000. His 2009-2010 compensation was not indicated in the board’s approval, but the resolution regarding Koehler stated that she, too, will be paid $95,000 annually.

The switch attracted attention not only because it occurred at such a high administrative level, but also because of the way in which it was initially discovered: by accident, when district web pages reflecting the change were inadvertently published in advance.

Both appointment resolutions were included in a single vote that covered a package of 16 different personnel matters. They involved a total of more than 140 named district employees, regarding retirements, resignations, certified and non-certified employment, supplemental payments, student teacher placements, substitute teacher pay rates,  and family medical and unpaid child rearing leaves. Such sweeping personnel approval is common as a board action.

Only minutes later, in a separate vote, directors also approved a resolution that, in part, authorized Ramage to attend a workshop to learn more about web-based software used by the district; and authorized Koehler to attend a four-day “assessment summit” with other district representatives.

Related (to the Koehler-Ramage administrative change):

• Superintendent Confirms Plan To Switch Administrators
• Unannounced Change In District Administrators
• District Hires Secondary Education Supervisor

Related (to the Pottsgrove School Board’s Aug. 11 meeting):

• School Board OKs Administrative Switch
• Lobbying Pays Off In Band Trailer Purchase
• Superintendent Confirms Plan To Switch Administrators

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