District hires assistant superintendent, addresses diversity

New task force intends to prioritize inclusion

The North Allegheny School District has a new assistant superintendent and a new task force for diversity and inclusion.

The school board appointed Joseph Sciullo as assistant superintendent for secondary education, to be effective when Melissa Friez becomes superintendent on July 1. Mr. Sciullo has been the director of student services for the past three years.

He received a bachelor’s degree in special education from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree and doctorate in education from Old Dominion University. He was previously student services director for the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit.

Patrick O’Toole, acting superintendent, said that the district also looked at candidates outside the system. Mr. Sciullo was the only internal candidate.

Also at the March 24 meeting, the district announced the formation of NA Empower to replace the current Diversity Committee. The committee will consist of administrators, teachers and students to start and will welcome volunteers from the community in the fall.

NA Empower will have more duties than the Diversity Committee, whose main activities were sponsoring an annual contest and gathering resources for the district.

The new committee will, among other tasks, revise the student code of conduct, last overhauled in 1985, identify a program for diversity and inclusion training, evaluate current recruiting and hiring policies, and create a dashboard for tracking code of conduct referrals and outcomes.

“Unveiling NA Empower is just the first step. Together, NA Empower and the district are committed to doing the work to create a culture where all individuals feel valued, supported and encouraged to succeed beyond their years at North Allegheny,” Ms. Friez said.

In addition to Ms. Friez, the leadership team for NA Empower includes Matt Buchak, assistant principal; Jordan Cotton, an instructional technology integrator; teacher David West; and students Evan Dozier and Faith Nguyen.

Board members praised the new committee.

“Things can’t get better if they are ignored,” said Kevin Mahler.

Board President Andrew Chomos said more work toward understanding others is needed.

“Don’t dismiss the other side and what they have to say. And this is for the Facebook groups. Work together to get this stuff resolved. If everybody keeps running to their side, nothing will get resolved. We have to come together. We can do it as board members. We can do it as governing bodies,” he said.

Alice Beckett Rumberger, a member of the Diversity Committee, asked the district to include committee members on NA Empower.

“Our voices should also be heard,” she said. “With a limited budget, we were not able to accomplish all the things that the NA Empower group could accomplish.”