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Fallout Continues from Incident at MASD
‘The process is in the employees’ hands,’ solicitor says
By Adam Reinherz
The Tube City Almanac
September 17, 2024
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Adam Reinherz photo for Tube City Almanac)
Three McKeesport Area School District employees have been moved from paid leave to unpaid leave as an investigation continues into the administration’s handling of an alleged sexual relationship between a former school contractor and a student.
A fourth employee, previously on leave, has been reinstated, effective Sept. 13, District Solicitor Gary Matta said.
The employees’ names have not been officially released or confirmed.
The district has retained an outside law firm, Dillon, McCandless, King, Coulter & Graham, to investigate what happened when the administration learned that a former school security guard, Alexis Brown, had been accused of having a sexual realationship with a student.
The guard, who worked for an outside contractor, has since been arrested, and the district has terminated its relationship with the company that employed her.
Following the arrest, questions arose as to when the district first learned of the relationship, and why it reportedly took several days before a referral was made to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services’ Childline child-abuse hotline.
Matta said that in accordance with the Dillon, McCandless special investigation, which began in April, district employees were afforded Loudermill hearings — hearings that ensure that public employees are granted due process before termination.
The hearings are named after a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court case, Loudermill v. Cleveland Board of Education.
Loudermill hearings related to what Matta referred to as the “underlying issue” have been held for five employees, Matta said. One of those employees, former District Superintendent Tia Wanzo, “chose to resign from the district in accordance with her contract.”
In order to regain their positions in the district, the three employees who have been moved from paid to unpaid leave now have the “ability to go through either a hearing process or an arbitration process,” Matta said. “The process is in the employees’ hands.”
The district declined to share further details regarding the Loudermill hearings or investigation. A Tube City Almanac reporter has filed a right-to-know request for certain documents related to the investigation.
Adam Reinherz is a Pittsburgh-based writer. He can be reached at adam.reinherz@gmail.com.
Originally published September 17, 2024.
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