Moon school director censured after ethics violations
The Moon Area School Board voted to censure one of its members who was charged this month with ethics violations after he and the Blackhawk superintendent allegedly used their respective positions to help hire each other’s children.
School directors on Monday unanimously voted to censure Mark Scappe, spokeswoman Kara Droney confirmed. She noted that the solicitor, when speaking on behalf of the board, “said that this will be referred to law enforcement.”
Mr. Scappe told the Post-Gazette he had no comment regarding the vote.
According to the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission, Mr. Scappe, a longtime Moon Area School director, and Robert Postupac, the superintendent at Blackhawk School District, both violated the Pennsylvania Ethics Act after they agreed to help each other’s children receive teaching jobs in the districts they represent.
Mr. Scappe’s son was hired as a full-time physical education teacher at Blackhawk and Mr. Postupac’s daughter received a teaching position at Moon’s McCormick Elementary. Both men were charged $750 fines. The report found that in 2016 Mr. Scappe’s son applied for a physical education/health teacher position at Highland Middle School.
He was selected for the first round of interviews. Blackhawk conducts three interviews with potential teaching candidates. Mr. Scappe’s son, however, was not selected for the second round.
Sometime after the first round of interviews, Mr. Scappe contacted several people to advocate for his son, including a former Blackhawk school board member. During a phone call, the board member told Mr. Scappe he could try to get his son an interview. Mr. Scappe responded, saying “You are the president of the Board, you can get him hired,” the report reads.
The board member did not know that Mr. Scappe’s son had already been interviewed.
Following the phone call, the former board member met with Mr. Postupac.
During the meeting, Mr. Postupac said, “I will do better than that, if he hires my daughter, and I mean fulltime, I’ll get his son a job,” the report reads.
After the second round of interviews, Mr. Postupac told the board’s personnel committee that they were going to bring Mr. Scappe’s son back for another interview.
Despite teaching an outdated lesson during his interview and concerns from some board members that other candidates were more qualified, Mr. Scappe’s son was hired during the Aug. 11, 2016, school board meeting.
Mr. Postupac’s directive to hire Mr. Scappe’s son occurred one day after Mr. Scappe ordered the hiring of Mr. Postupac’s daughter.
According to the ethics report for Mr. Scappe, the Moon school director went to the acting superintendent and ordered her to hire Mr. Postupac’s daughter for a long-term substitute position.
Despite the school’s principal having another candidate in mind for the position, the acting superintendent agreed to hire Mr. Postupac’s daughter. According to the report, after having previous interactions with Mr. Scappe the superintendent felt she “had no choice but to find a job” for Mr. Postupac’s daughter.
After being brought in for an interview, Mr. Postupac’s daughter was hired as a third grade long-term substitute during the Aug. 8, 2016 board meeting. She was later hired as a permanent teacher.
In addition to ethics charges, Mr. Scappe is accused of filing deficient Statements of Financial Interests.
Mr. Scappe previously told the Post-Gazette that he contested the allegations “but after thousands of dollars in legal expenses and facing even more costs if we continued the fight to a hearing, I accepted a $750 fine to settle and move on. I am proud for the past 20 years to have represented the students and community of Moon Area to the very best of my ability.”
In response to the report the Blackhawk School Board last week voted to hire special counsel to refer the ethics charges against Mr. Postupac to the district attorney and the U.S. attorney’s office in Pittsburgh.