Union-north approves Renee Manno for the position of Director of Adult Learning, Alternative Ed, and CTE Programs with a 3-to-2 vote
LAKEVILLE — after much deliberation, the Union-north United School Corporation (UNUSC) School Board voted to approve Renee Manno as the school’s new Director of adult Learning, alternative Ed, and Career and Technical Education (CTE) Programs. To discover more about these programs, read the article about them in the Thursday, July 13 edition of The Pilot News, page one.
Manno has been the Curriculum Director at UNUSC since July 1, 2022, and will continue in some of those operations, but will focus on overseeing the alternative education programs. “This person would still be able to do some of that guidance. If there’s an elementary curriculum question, or a high school one that’s more general ed, that person would still be able to do it. They are not going to be put in a bubble—in a silo—and say ‘you can only ever talk about this,’” explained Board Member Karman Eash. “We have the position that’s there, and we have a need to be more focused. So to me, it makes sense to be able to utilize that position and help build this up.” She went on to say that as the program grows, the board may hire a teacher to help administratively. During the public comment section, a parent pointed out that Manno’s contract ended on June 30, 2023 and so expressed concern that her advancement was listed as a ‘transfer’ on the agenda, not as a rehire. However, school administration contracts automatically renew unless a school board-approved preliminary notice is given at least 30 days in advance according to Indiana Code 20-28-8-4.
Parents also voiced concern that the new position’s salary wasn’t posted. But the recommendation for employment, or the notes from the interview for this explains that she will maintain the same pay rate and benefits. Manno’s 2022-2023 contract on the UNUSC website lists her salary as $80,000.
This transfer was referred to as “lateral” by the superintendent and some of the board members, but since it was described as an entirely new position, some board members disputed the point. The parents also voiced sharp disagreements during public comments, accusing the administration of what the parent’s believe to be unethical decision making. Eash, however, pointed out, “It’s curriculum to curriculum. To me, that’s lateral.”
One of the board members questioned the necessity of the position. “Why do we need a person to say that they’re the director of that position, when we already have the leadership that started that program and we’re just naming another person to be a high level,” said Board Member Joe Czarnecki, “I think we have more than enough people that are functional in our school where we can hire an everyday teacher to add another part of that sophistication and split that opportunity between two or three teachers to run that.”
a couple board
members struggled with how Manno was given the job, especially since the position was not posted within the corporation or publicly. “I believe somebody in our school should have had the opportunity to take over that role and take that position. At least put it out there. If Renee’s the best one, then Renee’s the best one,” said Czarnecki. “I know some people who would have put in for that job that are in our school district who are more than qualified to do that stuff. They may not have one thing, but which teacher in here—if you gave the opportunity to say, ‘yeah, go do this job’—wouldn’t take some kind of class to further excel their learning opportunities? … I just think they deserve the chance, as everyone else does, to make it.” However, another board member expressed hesitancy to “pit staff against staff.”
Arden Balmer explained how Manno has all the necessary qualifications for the position, reading from the recommendation for employment given to board members in the agenda items packet and compiled by Edison and Dr. Piazza. “With all due respect to our teachers, I’m not sure we’re not going to find a teacher with these qualifications,” he explained.
Appointing her to this position came after discussions between Superintendent Dr. Angela Piazza, Manno, and Laville High School (LVHS) Principal, Michael Edison. Although he wasn’t at the meeting, he later told the Pilot News, “I met with Dr. Angela Piazza several weeks ago to discuss the possible transfer of Renee Manno to this new position. I was aware that we were moving forward with this transfer. I appreciated Dr. Piazza involving me and collaborating with me. We have an amazing staff at Laville Jr/sr high school and I think Renee has some qualities that will lend her to adapt to that position and expand it in some new and creative ways.”
Board President Tom Smith pointed out that the proposed position, although new to the corporation, is a vital position for LVHS’S additions to the alternative education program, especially when it comes to working out the kinks in the existing aspects of it. Having this position would also help support the counselor-student ratio, which is currently 1-to-600. This is “unrealistic,” as Smith described it, especially with the amount of paperwork and testing that is required by the state.
The board discussed that the director position is important in part because it covers the CTE Program. During the public comment section, one of the parents pointed out that there are regional services that UNUSC already uses through North Central CTE, a cooperative that benefits 10 schools in the region. However, board member Karman Eash explained that it is not realistic to rely on the co-op for everything to do with the local program, especially with the amount of growth that is possible with LVHS’S CTE.
Board Member Jared Mcqueen motioned to table the issue until the July 24 meeting. It failed 3-2 because the school year is fast approaching, the program still needs to be approved by the school, and LVHS’S counselor, Lori Williams has to start signing students up for the alternative education programs sooner as opposed to later, or they will go to other schools. “I am not comfortable scheduling kids into our Lancer Online program that might not happen.”
She was adamant that having the position filled post haste was vital for the program to begin. She also pointed out that this was approved by Mr. Edison before it came to the board. “I feel like this is being put out there because of a decision that was made by a decision that was made by administration who saw a need and a good fit. If it’s not going to go, I would say we will have to come back together, redo some scheduling, redo some job alignments, and things. And we’re already tight,” she said. “My concern is that it’s going to fall back on Zak [Tyler] to take over Lancer Achievement Academy, he’s going to do Lancer Online, and I lose my support.” Also, Dr. Piazza made it clear that if the decision wasn’t decided during the July 10 meeting, it would not be brought back to the agenda.
After some discussion, including amended motions and several votes, they approved Manno for the position 3-2.