Shane W Potter

This story was updated May 7, 2024 to reflect parents questioned the school district’s employee discipline policies.

SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — Parents questioned the Slippery Rock Area School District school board Monday evening, May 6, about the safety of students of Moraine Elementary School under the leadership of a principal who was escorted out of the building last month.

Mara Hensel, a parent of students at Moraine Elementary, said at the meeting the district’s superintendent Alfonso Angelucci told her during a phone call that he escorted principal Kristie Shulsky out of the school April 24, but did not explain to her why.

“I think that we need to know if our kids were put in harm’s way; that is a huge concern of ours,” Hensel said. “I think we need to know if all the policies of the state and district were taken to the full extent of what they needed to be to make sure the kids were safe, to make sure the staff was safe and to make sure Shulsky was safe.”

Directly after Hensel spoke, another parent, Kristin Bosiljevac, asked the board about protocol if a person at the elementary school shows up to work intoxicated.

“I just want to know what the protocol would be again and if it whether or not it was followed through,” Bosiljevac said.

Angelucci on Friday told the Butler Eagle that Shulsky was on leave and the district’s assistant superintendent, Susan Miller, was filling in. On Monday, Angelucci said the reason behind her absence was a personnel issue, which the district would not comment on.

In response to questions from Hensel and Bosiljevac, Angelucci said safety is the district’s number one concern.

“We act on it immediately and take appropriate action,” Angelucci said. “The safety of the children, that’s number one. That’s No. 1 on our shared values for a reason.”

Board president Heather Scott said issues relating to staff discipline are addressed as they come up.

“Every situation is unique and obviously not every single thing can be spelled out,” Scott said. “Things are dealt with as they are brought to the administration’s attention, they deal with it as necessary in those instances depending on what the situation is.”

Following answers by Angelucci and Scott, a number of people from the audience asked about the protocol but were asked by solicitor Michael Hnath to curb the callouts.

“This is not a question-and-answer session,” he said.

Also at the meeting, the board voted to retain Dillon, McCandless, King, Coulter & Graham for its legal services for another year, with a pay increase of $5 per hour, bringing the total hourly rate to $200 per hour.