Download PDF

Judge Confirms Firing of Administrator

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...
Post Views 6

A judge in Lebanon County has confirmed the firing of an administration for the Lebanon school board after the administrator was accused of lying to the school officials. The Judge, Samuel A. Kline, made his ruling in favor of the school district even though the administrator, Evelyn W. Rossi, originally filed an appeal. Rossi was fire back in November from her position as an assistant superintendent within the human resources department. When the school board members gathered together to vote, they said that they chose to terminate her from her position because she told a lie to Marianne Bartley, the Superintendent for the schools, about having job interviews already scheduled. She also asked her assistant to cover up her lies, repeating the same story that she told Bartley.

When Kline made his ruling, he said, “In today’s day and age, what one person considers to be immoral may not be considered immoral by another.” He also said, “However, the facts of this care are clear. What started out with an initial lie about making a phone call escalated into a worse situation insofar as Rossi asked her assistant to lie for her to help her cover up the lie. A reasonable person could very well view those incidents to be immoral.”

When Rossi appealed her termination, she argued that the school board had never provided proof on her telling any sort of lie. She felt as though there was not enough evidence to support the conclusion that the board members came up with, choosing to terminate her position. She also felt as though the decision from the board members did not go in accordance with the Public School Code. In the meantime, the solicitor, Bill Reed, provided explanation on Kline’s ruling, in which he supported the action of the board members. Reed said, “There are limited grounds upon which a board can terminate the contract of an assistant superintendent.” He also said, “That term is not defined in the statute – the Pennsylvania School Code – but it is defined by courts to say immorality is defined as a course of conduct that offends the morals of the community and is a bad example to the youth whose ideals, as a professional employee, is supposed to support and elevate.”

Rossi was first hired by the Lebanon School District eight years ago, back in 2004. She was earning a yearly salary of around $95,000 per year and her contract was expected to continue up until 2015 until her termination occurred.  Her firing took place due to events that took place back in October, when Bartley originally asked Rossi to set up job interviews, in which she never did and lied about it.

Judge Confirms Firing of Administrator by
Authored by: Harrison Barnes