Finalist for Spring-Ford superintendent job to be introduced

Dr. Joe Padasak, the superintendent of the Chambersburg Area School District, is a finalist to succeed outgoing Spring-Ford superintendent Dr. Marsha Hurda, the Spring-Ford Area School district said in a press release issued Friday. Hurda is scheduled to retire in July.

The public will be given a chance to meet Padasak during a "meet and greet" session to be held at Spring-Ford Intermediate School next Wednesday, April 6, from 5:30-7:00pm.

The district has set up a web site where members of the public can submit questions for Padasak. "Every attempt will be made to answer provided questions on Wednesday evening," reads a statement on the web site.

Questions may be submitted until 12:00pm on April 6. Attendees at the "meet and greet" session will also be able to submit questions on note cards, the district said.

"At the conclusion of the Q&A period, attendees will be able to interact with Dr. Padasak personally," the district said.

Padasak has served as Chambersburg's superintendent since 2006. The Chambersburg district, located about 40 miles west of Harrisburg, serves 8,700 students and operates on a $105 million budget. Prior to his time at Chambersburg, Padasak served as superintendent for four years in the Windber School District near Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He holds a bachelor's degree from Pennsylvania State University, a master's degree from Western Maryland College, and a doctoral degree in education from Widener University.

Padasak told the Public Opinion newspaper of Chambersburg that he was contacted about the position several weeks ago, interviewed with the Spring-Ford school board last week, and was told Friday that he was a finalist for the job.

The fiscal problems faced by Spring-Ford, which is trying to close an estimated $11.8 million deficit in its 2011-12 operating budget, will be familiar to Padasak.  Last week, the Chambersburg district, faced with its own $3.5 million budget deficit, slashed three professional programs and nine support staff positions, according to a report in the Herald-Mail newspaper of Hagerstown, Maryland.

According to a June 2009 article in the Public Opinion newspaper in Chambersburg, Padasak's base salary during the 2009-10 school year was $145,501.

Hurda's base salary for the 2010-11 school year was $183,894.

Information from a Spring-Ford Area School District press release was used in this report.