Karen Boujoukos Elected to North Allegheny School Board
During a public interview Wednesday night with the North Allegheny School Board, board candidate Karen Boujokos promised that, thanks to her 10 years of prior service on the board, she would be able to “hit the ground running.”
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North Allegheny Superintendent Recommends Delay In Closing Peebles Elementary
To the surprise of several members of the North Allegheny School Board, Superintendent Raymond Gualtieri recommended Wednesday night a one-year delay in the proposed closing of Peebles Elementary School.
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Karen Boujoukos appointed to North Allegheny school board
Karen Boujoukos on Wednesday was appointed to the North Allegheny school board. Mrs. Boujoukos, of Franklin Park, served on the board for 10 years, leaving the board in 2011.
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If North Allegheny closes Peebles, transition would take one year
If the North Allegheny School Board votes in May to close Peebles Elementary School, the move will not take effect until the 2014-15 school year.
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save NA schools 
So let me get this straight…
(1) We have 11 candidates interview for the empty seat on our school board.
(2) All candidates have qualities that would make them an asset to the board.
(3) Of all the candidates, our school board chose to vote in the one candidate with previous board experience.
While I can appreciate Mrs. Boujokos’s 10 years of prior service on the board, I feel that we missed a great opportunity last night. North Allegheny is facing some very tough decisions in the near future. Whether its closing schools, cutting programs or coming up with alternative funding sources for the ever increasing pension obligation, the district is in a tough spot. During these trying times, some board members have shown an unwillingness to “think outside of the box.” This has been evident in their lack of response to pursuing ideas for advertising revenue or the outsourcing of transportation services. Why not bring some new blood on to the board? Why not bring someone in that would be open to fresh ideas and capable of looking at ALL options?
I suppose by now I shouldn’t be surprised. That being said, it is disappointing to see our board still incapable of embracing new ideas to move our district forward.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…
The argument to vote in Mrs Boujoukos was that she has experience and could hit the ground running with no learning curve. While Mrs Boujoukos admitted last night that she had not been following the current situation, other applicants were in fact up to date.
I am afraid that Mrs Boujoukos is going to have a very steep learning curve as she reads through two cumbersome demographic and feasibility studies, the stenographers recording of a 7 hour public hearing, the countless letters sent in from the community, the e-reports and board minutes from the last year, as well all the special reports from the administration (Budgets, Human Resources, etc…)
From my perspective, calling it an interview & election process was painfully ironic. It was obviously choreographed and in the end a dubious display.
Question for Save NA Schools: Do the tenures of 5 of our Board members end Dec. 2013? Are elections coming this May 21 (Municipal Primaries)?
There are four school board positions that will expire in 2013. The spring primary will be held on May 21.
Does this school board actually think they fooled anyone with this charade of interviewing and voting? NA should vote them ALL out in the next election.