Spring-Ford superintendent hopeful meets public

Dr. Joseph Padasak, a finalist for the job of superintendent of Spring-Ford Area School district, spoke to about 75 members of the public this evening in a "meet and greet" session at the .

Padasak, 53, is currently superintendent of the Chambersburg Area School District. The Spring-Ford job will become vacant this summer, following the retirement of Dr. Marsha Hurda, the current superintendent.

The meeting was moderated by Dr. Jon Rednak of Ray and Associates, the executive recruitment firm that has been leading the district's search for Hurda's successor. After Padasak was introduced, Rednak read questions that had been submitted via a form at the district's web site. Members of the public were then permitted to pose questions to Padasak directly.

Padasak called Spring-Ford a "destination" school district.

"My first superintendency [in the Windber Area School District near Johnstown] was in a district that was very high-functioning...we were the highest rated school in western Pennsylvania...I saw that it was a destination school. People came there, lived there to go to the schools. That's what they're doing here [in Spring-Ford]. They're moving here to go to the schools here," Padasak said.

On a question about the importance of communication with residents, Padasak spoke of the importance of interacting not only with parents, but also with residents who do not have children in district schools. He cited his visits to "upscale" senior citizen communities in the Chamberburg area.

"I go out there every year and talk to them, because they're not sending any children to our school district and they're paying a fair amount of taxes. They just like to be informed," Padasak said.

Upper Providence resident Kathleen Bryant, a regular attendee at Spring-Ford school board meetings, questioned Padasek about his views on special education programs. Bryant said she understood that about 450 children had been moved out of the Chambersburg district's special education programs during Padasak's tenure.

"When I came to [Chambersburg], the state audited us for special [education]," Padasak said.

"They told us that our 18 percent special ed numbers were way too high for our community, that it needed to be down to 14 percent. They also told us that our gifted numbers should have been 2.2 percent, and they were only 1.2 percent," Padasak said.

"We followed their [the state's] plan and implemented it through our staff. We basically required all special ed teachers―we have 60 of them―to do inclusion immediately," referring to the practice of putting special education students into regular classes and providing individualized services in that setting.

"That wasn't easy to do," Padasak said. "We put a process in place. I don't want my child labeled before they should be labeled. When is that? Is it first grade or is it third grade?"

Padasak said the changes reduced the Chambersburg district's special education roster from 1,500 students to 1,050 students.

In a question read by Rednak, an unidentified seventh-grade Spanish teacher at Spring-Ford asked Padasak about cuts to seventh-grade language programs at Chambersburg during his tenure. The teacher asked whether Padasak would cut similar programs at Spring-Ford.

"We did cut the French program in our high school. We have German, we have Spanish, and we have Latin. In an ideal world, all children from kindergarten through third grade should have foreign languages. But you have to make tough decisions...my decisions aren't made by me, they're made by a committee of administrators and staff," Padasak said.

Padasak said the students were compensated by spending additional time on other, unspecified academic areas.

"They weren't losing education, they were gaining education," Padasak said.

School board president Joseph Ciresi declined to say whether Padasak would be the next superintendent.

School board member Thomas DiBello said there were about six finalists for the position. Asked whether any of the other candidates would be introduced to the public in a manner similar to Padasak, DiBello said he "couldn't say."

Padasak told the Public Opinion newspaper in Chambersburg that he was "just a finalist" but that he would accept a job offer "if they matched me or offered something close."

The Public Opinion reported Padasak's current salary at about $145,000. Current superintendent Hurda earned $183,894 during the 2010-11 school year.

[Editor's note: An earlier version of this story stated that this event took place at nearby Upper Providence Elementary School. We regret the error.]