BERNE — After several appointments of school leaders’ relatives to positions at Berne-Knox-Westerlo, a current BKW board member as well as a former member objected to the appointment of the wife of the board president to a newly created position in the district.

At its Dec. 11 meeting, the board voted to appoint Maria Tedeschi as “Personnel Assistant 1,” with an annual salary of $45,000. The board, without discussion, had created the post at the same meeting.

Similarly, on Oct. 19, 2015, the board took three actions — all at the same meeting — regarding Maria Tedeschi, according to the minutes: The board created a new position — “Personnel Assistant 1”; accepted Tedeschi’s resignation as a keyboard specialist, effective the next day; and appointed Tedeschi as “Personnel Assistant,” effective the next day, at an annual salary of $30,000.

Helen Lounsbury cast the sole vote on Monday against appointing Tedeschi, saying that the board did not post the job opening or conduct candidate interviews, and that there had been no formal discussion by the board of the position’s duties or salaries.

“This leads to the district open to serious questions as to whether or no we’re an equal-opportunity employer,” she said.

Lounsbury also questioned the board’s use of emails to discuss policy that should be done at public meetings.

Board President Matthew Tedeschi said that emails act as a communication tool for the board. Lounsbury said her concern is that discussions of issues should be made in public.

Some board members said the reason for the hiring was that Maria Tedeschi had formerly worked for the district. Board member Nathan Elble said that the post would have Maria Tedeschi doing tasks she had completed for the district before leaving to work for the Board of Cooperative Educational Services; he asserted that the board would be hiring the person who would do the best job. He added that some candidates may give great interviews and then “suck at the job.”

Speaking from the gallery, Maria Tedeschi said she had worked for 15 years for BKW.

“I probably got eight to 10 canvas letters a year,” she said, adding that she threw away these letters offering the possibility for new jobs.

After her children graduated from BKW, she said she responded to a letter from BOCES “that was too good to pass up,” and decided to take a job there “and broaden my HR experience.”

“It was a very hard decision to make,” she said.

Superintendent Timothy Mundell said the administration had created the new position in the hopes of offering a job normally covered by multiple people. He said that Persefini Ryerson, a part-time clerk who had recently resigned, and the treasurer had completed human resource tasks while Maria Tedeschi worked in payroll. Mundell said the job offered to Maria Tedeschi would combine these two different tasks along with a number of other jobs.

Maria Tedeschi said that she hadn’t been challenged enough when she was handling only payroll at BKW. She said she had learned more while at BOCES, and when she learned about the job created at BKW, she was eager to accept it because it offered more demanding work.

Mundell said that he had filed with the Civil Service when it first appeared there would be some movement in the business office this summer. The former business manager, Sarah Blood, resigned this past August and was later replaced by former BKW treasurer Stacey King.

Mundell said the district decided to bring back Maria Tedeschi, a former employee of BKW who had been working for BOCES.

Lounsbury said she thought Maria Tedeschi had gone “above and beyond” while working at BKW, but said she had concerns, such as that of the salary. Lounsbury said that Maria Tedeschi had previously had a salary of $30,000, which Maria Tedeschi said was not true. Lounsbury responded that she was referencing an appointment listed in the school board agenda in 2015.

According to Mundell, because Maria Tedeschi was hired through the Civil Service, the district could be in legal trouble if they did not make the appointment. Knox Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis, a former school board member, speaking from the gallery, said that the district would need at least three candidates for that to be the case.

“I have been assured by Albany County Civil Service that we need one candidate that’s on the list; we can go ahead and make the appointment,” said Mundell.

“You certainly can,” said Lefkaditis. “But to Helen’s point, you’re shutting the door on just about everybody else, and that’s just not right.”

Mundell replied that Maria Tedeschi is an excellent candidate with a good track record. He also added that hiring internally can be useful.

“Who are you comparing the candidate to?” asked Lefkaditis. “You haven’t interviewed or posted.”

Family ties

He later added that in the past year the board has already approved the hiring of Tedeschi’s daughter and son-in-law, Mundell’s sister, and Elble’s wife.

Board president Matthew Tedeschi responded to this, saying that his wife had previously worked for the school before he was elected to the board.

Tedeschi’s son-in-law, Christopher Miedema, is a middle school math teacher, head cross country coach, an indoor track coach, and the Varsity girls track coach. Tedeschi’s daughter, Courtney Tedeschi, is the assistant cross country coach and volunteer indoor track coach.

Elble’s wife, Carli Elble, was appointed to a four-year permanent probationary period as a teaching assistant in July. Elble had abstained from the vote.

Mundell’s sister, Dana Slater, was first appointed as a summer-school special-education teacher in June, and then, in July, was appointed as a special-education teacher, with a three-year probationary period. Both appointments were recommended by Pupil Personnel Director Susan Sloma rather than Mundell, who also gave a lengthy explanation on his sister’s appointment.

Jay Worona, the deputy executive director and general counsel for the New York State School Boards Association, told The Enterprise is September that, while it is not encouraged, nepotism is not prohibited in appointments by the school board.

However, if a teacher related to a board member is appointed, there must be a two-thirds, or supermajority, vote to hire that person, he said.

A statement from the New York State Board of Regents says that nepotism should be avoided, and that personal relationships must not influence decision-making, and encourages written policies to prevent that. It also notes that a board member may vote on the employment of a relative.

Close vote

Board member Lillian Sisson-Chrysler, who had asked for more information about the job offered and what made Maria Tedeschi want to come back to BKW, said that she saw both Mundell’s and Lounsbury’s points, but agreed that it would be easier to hire someone familiar to the school district who would not have to be trained.

Board member Kimberly Lovell said through a video-chat on a smartphone that the appointment sounded closer to a promotion than the creation of a new job. Lovell, a teacher at Middleburgh Central School District, said that she is used a more open selection process, but that she understood there were differences in the Civil Service system.

Lovell was participating in the meeting from her home through the Apple app Facetime. Matthew Tedeschi said that she was sick and didn’t want to spread her illness at the meeting.

Lefkaditis stated that this was not legal unless Lovell made her home open to the public, to which Tedeschi asked in a joking manner if Lovell would invite Lefkaditis to her home. State law requires that the second venue be publicized in advance and open to the public.

In attendance at the meeting was former board member Russell Chauvot, who as a member had attended meetings over video conference.

New York State’s Open Meetings Law states, “A public body that uses video conferencing to conduct its meetings shall provide an opportunity to attend, listen and observe at any site at which a member participates.”

Lovell, Elble, and Sisson-Chrysler voted yes; Lounsbury voted no; Tedeschi abstained from the vote.

The board voted to appoint a number of other positions, including one for Shannon Chrysler as a substitute one-on-one teacher’s aid and as a substitute licensed practical nurse.

Sisson-Chrysler asked earlier in the meeting to separate the appointment from the consent agenda and abstained from voting on that item. She said that Shannon Chrysler is her daughter-in-law, and that she was unaware that she had applied for or had been accepted for the position.

Chauvot sarcastically suggested the board “have a big discussion about it.”