Julie Hopp

BUTLER TWP — Butler School Board in a special meeting Monday afternoon hired an elementary school administrator from Allegheny County as the district's new director of curriculum, instruction and professional development.

Julie Hopp will be paid a salary of $125,000 per year. She comes from the Chartiers Valley district in Allegheny County, where she was director of elementary education and intermediate school principal and where she formerly worked with Brian White, Butler's current superintendent.

She fills a newly-created position, though the board also voted unanimously to abolish the assistant superintendent for elementary education position. That position had been vacant since Mary Wolf resigned in February.

White said that leaving some positions unfilled and making changes to central administration and support personnel have reduced the district's salary expenditures by $106,000 for the 2017-18 school year. About $135,000 per year was budgeted for the second assistant superintendent position, not including benefits, he said.

A full story appears in Tuesday's Butler Eagle.