CHERRY TWP — The school board gave Moniteau School District's superintendent a satisfactory rating and approved a raise for him Monday.

School boards in Pennsylvania are legally obligated to evaluate the superintendent at least once a year. Moniteau School District evaluates the superintendent several times a year.

Board president Mike Panza said the board has had this policy for a few years now to maintain a good line of communication with the district superintendent, Tom Samosky.

“We actually do three evaluations each year,” he said. “We would rather give him continuous feedback throughout the year.”

The school board performed its evaluation and unanimously approved a 2.5% pay raise to Samosky at Monday's meeting. Panza said the board gave him a satisfactory rating.

Samosky was actually approved for a 2.8% raise, but he said the 2.5% raise is in line with most of the employee raises throughout the district.

“Due to the financial situation of the district, we have tried to be consistent on salary raises,” Samosky said.

For his evaluation, Samosky provided several of his goals for the district to the school board.

He said he provided four goals, including creating a better culture for teaching and learning, implementing health and safety guidelines throughout the district, further developing partnerships with community organizations and stakeholders, and finding new ways to innovate the curriculum with technology.

He said many people throughout the district, from parents and staff to members of the community, have risen to the challenge to support the school students.

“I'm very happy with how the staff and the community has come together to support the kids during the pandemic,” Samosky said. “Our staff has undertaken the value of these new tools, and I'm excited about the future.”

Panza said Samosky, who started with the Moniteau School District in January 2020, did a good job leading the district through the coronavirus pandemic. From the implementation of technology to the safety measures put in place throughout the year, Panza said Samosky has done well.

“(Samosky) led the district through the entire COVID situation extremely well,” Panza said. “We believe the implementation of technology has been great. Every one of his decisions has been to help the kids.”