Administrator Returns to Baldwin-Whitehall as Asst. Superintendent

Sedlacek Hired

As one Baldwin-Whitehall School Board member put it, "Welcome back."

Former administrator Denise L. Sedlacek is returning as the district's assistant superintendent, as the school board voted to approve her hiring during a meeting on Wednesday night.

Board member Nancy Lee Crowder, who made the welcoming statement, said that she was impressed with Sedlacek during the position's interviewing process.

"Not only did she give answers, she gave solutions," Crowder said.

Sedlacek previously served the district as its director of secondary curriculum before leaving in 2005. Since 2010, she has been the vice president of educational services at Pittsburgh area-based Pressley Ridge, which provides services to families of children with challenging behaviors.

Sedlacek will earn $125,000 during the 2012-13 school year, starting July 1.

She replaces Dr. John D. Wilkinson, who has been hired as the head superintendent of the Belle Vernon Area School District. Wilkinson also complimented Sedlacek on Wednesday.

"My shoes are officially filled," he said. "She probably is more qualified than I am."

School board member Nancy Sciulli DiNardo said that she remembers Sedlacek fondly from her first stint in Baldwin-Whitehall.

"Good things are coming for Baldwin-Whitehall residents and students with her being here," Sciulli DiNardo said.

Possible Change in Student Board Reps Selection

Also during Wednesday's meeting, DiNardo called for a change in the way that the district chooses student board representatives. Those representatives attend board meetings as liaisons between the student body and the school board.

In current practice, the representatives go through an interview process for selection. DiNardo has called for elections instead, contending that some students who might be interested in being representatives don't get an opportunity under that system.

District solicitor Ed Lawrence will draft an amendment to the board's policy to present to the board in August at the earliest that provides for election of student representatives by the student body. Administrators would determine the procedures by which the elections would occur.

Senior student representative Edward Lippl, attending his final board meeting before , admonished the board for not asking for the current representatives' opinion while it discussed a possible change in policy. But Lippl did thank officials for the opportunity to serve.

"I do know that what I learned here will shape my life forever," he said.

The two other student representatives, Jaclyn Sirc and Victoria Schmotzer, will continue as student reps for the senior and junior classes next school year, respectively. And freshman Jennifer Yanko will join the ranks as a sophomore class representative.

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