By Rick Madewell
Assistant Editor

A one-year employment contract for Osceola County School District Superintendent Terry Andrews was approved 5-0 Tuesday night by the School Board.

In discussing the contract, Andrews, whose annual salary will be $150,529, said he would not accept any bonuses for attending school functions outside the scope of his job.

School Board Member Jay Wheeler then told Andrews, “I never liked the fact that we didn’t go through a national search, but we are where we are. I can be the biggest fan or the biggest critic, but I am going to support (the employment agreement). Whoever the superintendent is, they need the confidence from the board. I am interested in raising the graduation rate, the reading scores and pushing these kids. We have to perform. And Terry, I expect you to do that ... if not, I am going to call you out on it.”

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Andrews highly recommended two administrative leaders to the board to fill two positions that had recently become open.

Pam Tapley, St. Cloud High School principal, was appointed superintendent of secondary education while Mark Munas was appointed as assistant superintendent for school support services.

The School Board unanimously approved the appointments. Both will be making $117,500. All administrators are approved for an annual contract from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012.

Tapley began her career in the Osceola County School District in 2007, and currently serves as the principal of St. Cloud High School. Prior to her employment in Osceola County, Tapley was employed at Clay Springs Elementary in Apopka as a third-grade teacher and curriculum re-source specialist (1997-99); as curriculum resource specialist at Piedmont Lakes Middle School in Apopka (1999-2003); and as assistant principal of instruction at William R. Boone High School in Orlando (2003-07).

Tapley earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education at Florida State University and a master’s degree in education leadership from National Louis University.

Munas began his career in the Osceola County School District in 1984. He has served as a classroom teacher at St. Cloud Middle School (1984-85); a classroom teacher, curriculum coordinator, and dean of students at Gateway High (1985-91); and staff development resource teacher, executive supervisor and director of the Osceola School District’s Professional Development Department (1991-2009). Munas currently serves as the executive director of Professional Development and Standards (2009 to present) and as the chief negotiator for the School Board’s labor contracts with the instructional and educational support unions.

Munas earned his bachelor’s degree in education at Ohio University and a master’s degree in education leadership K-12 from Nova University.

Two deputy superintendents are no longer with the district. Beverly Carbaugh retired and Debra Pace has taken a position with another school system.

Tom Phelps will stay on as assistant superintendent for administration/student services and Melba Luciano will stay on as assistant superintendent for elementary curriculum and instruction.

In other business, Board Member Tom Long announced that board members have received new Blackberry phones for school business. He also emphasized that all district-related information should be sent to board members’ district email instead of their personal or business emails.

Long emphasized the need to do this to take the burden off board members who are having to back up school district-related conversations and emails to be available for public information requests.

Board Chairman Cindy Hartig added, “While we don’t want to incur extra taxpayer dollars ... if somebody wants to get hold of us, use our district email ... District business is conducted with district email or the district phone number.”

Board members’ district emails and phone numbers are:

District 1: Jay Wheeler; wheelerj@osceola.k12.fl.us; 407-462-6598.

District 2: Julius Melendez; Melendez@osceola.k12.fl.us; 407-922-5113.

District 3: Cindy Hartig; hartigc@osceola.k12.fl.us; 407-462-5781.

District 4: Barbara Horn; hornb@osceola.k12.fl.us; 407-462-5642.

District 5: Tom Long; longtom@osceola.k12.fl.us; 407-462-5782.

During the public comments portion of the meeting, T.J. Palmer, representing the Osceola County Veterans Council, asked for more participation from the county’s schools during this year’s Veterans Day Parade planned for Kissimmee in November.

“We’d love to have all the schools and bands and all the noise we can make,” Palmer said.

Hartig assured Palmer the schools would be a big part of the parade.

During the presentations portion of the meeting, Paul Braley, account executive for My Office Products, presented to the School Board a rebate check of $15,689. This amount was accumulated through refunds of 1 percent on all purchases and an additional 1 percent refund on all credit card purchases. Last year, the district received a rebate check from the company for $14,288.