It was an eventful meeting of the Steel Valley school board this week. First, the board, at the recommendation of Superintendent William Kinavey, and with little explanation, dismantled the administrative structure that Dr. Kinavey put into place three years ago when he was appointed superintendent. Three administrative positions were eliminated and a new one created.

Also as part of its personnel actions, the board hired Jeffrey Soles, assistant high school principal in the Kiski Area School District, as the new Steel Valley High School principal to replace Leo Schlanger, who retired.

Those actions were followed by a report from Mark Cherpak, director of operational services, who explained the district has a $367,000 shortfall in its collection of delinquent taxes for the 2008-2009 school year.

Then, the meeting ended abruptly when the public comment session was gaveled to a close by board President Joseph Ducar. He and Dr. Kinavey left the meeting, with a resident still at the podium attempting to address the board.

Following the meeting, board Vice President Vince Natale said he could not comment on the administrative changes because they involved personnel.

Among the jobs eliminated were those of Carole Policastro, director of elementary education, and Diana Borges, director of pupil personnel and special services. Also eliminated was the position of director of secondary education, which had gone unfilled for the past year.

Dr. Kinavey insisted the job cuts were not made to save money. Mr. Cherpak said the board still plans to adopt a $28.55 million 2009-2010 budget on Tuesday that includes no tax hike. Helping to balance that budget are $1.56 million in federal stimulus funds the district expects to receive.

Still, reducing the administrative staff will save money. Dr. Policastro's salary is $72,000, and Ms. Borges' salary is $92,323. Their administrative jobs end on June 30, but both women can move back into the teaching ranks, Mr. Cherpak said, which could result in the loss of jobs for teachers at the bottom of the seniority scale.

The board approved creation of a new position, director of pupil personnel services and special services/elementary education. Dr. Kinavey said there is currently no job description for that position, and Mr. Cherpak said no salary has been determined.

When Munhall resident Paula Borsch questioned if the board really planned to vote on the creation of a position without any job description, Mr. Ducar responded: "That's correct."

Mr. Natale said the board would hold Dr. Kinavey responsible if his recommendations for the administrative changes do not work out.

There was no time line announced for filling the new position. In the meantime, Dr. Kinavey said the duties of the positions that were eliminated would be spread among the remaining administrative staff.

When Dr. Kinavey became superintendent in July 2006, he abolished the assistant superintendent's position in order to create the posts for directors of primary and secondary education, calling those positions vital to a successful school district.

At Tuesday's meeting, Dr. Kinavey gave no explanation for why he now wanted to eliminate those position other than to say that he was "reorganizing my administrative staff" to streamline and provide services more efficiently to students.

Also eliminated without any public discussion was the position of food service supervisor. But after the meeting, Mr. Cherpak said the responsibility for supervising the food service would be divided among other administrators including himself. He said plans call for the district to hire a part-time contract employee later to handle food service supervision.

The board also terminated the employment of a high school cafeteria worker. However, Mr. Cherpak explained that worker had walked off her job and had not returned, so the board's action was a formality.

The $367,000 shortfall in delinquent tax revenue was brought to light when Mr. Natale asked Mr. Cherpak to explain a memo he had placed in the board's informational packets.

The memo indicated that Legal Tax Service, which is owned by district solicitor DonaldFetzko, was $467,000 short in its collections for the school year that ends on Tuesday.

But Mr. Fetzko said his firm had about $100,000 to turn over to the district, so the outstanding amount was $367,000. Mr. Fetzko said the collections are coming up short because more people are ignoring their delinquent tax notices.

When Mr. Natale pressed Mr. Fetzko for details on when the notices were originally sent out and whether follow-up notices were sent, Mr. Fetzko said he didn't know. The solicitor said the tax collection firm usually gives delinquents until July 1 to pay their bills before it starts court proceedings against them.

"That's unacceptable," Mr. Natale said.

"This is going to be a problem for us," Mr. Ducar said. The board president ordered Mr. Fetzko to "start court proceedings.''

Earlier in the meeting, the board rehired Legal Tax as its collector of earned income and occupation tax with a two-year contract. Mr. Fetzko pointedly announced that his firm had exceeded collections on those taxes by 25 percent or about $250,000. He said that amount should offset the drop in delinquent taxes in the 2008-2009 budget, but school officials did not seem appeased by that explanation.

The meeting came to an abrupt end as resident Sharon Ford attempted to exceed the three-minute limit set by the board for public comment. Ms. Ford has addressed the board in recent months about a community coalition she is trying to form to give the district input on programs and projects.

She often exceeds the time limits at board meetings and says there is no legal basis for them.

At the start of Tuesday's public comment session, Mr. Ducar held up a bell and made it clear he planned to ring it when the three minutes were up for each speaker.

When Ms. Ford, who was the only one to address the board, hit the three-minute mark, the bell was rung. She tried to protest, and Mr. Ducar gaveled the meeting to a close. He and Dr. Kinavey left immediately.

The rest of the board, however, remained for about 20 additional minutes and explained to Ms. Ford that they and other public bodies are permitted to place time limits on public comment and that it is common practice to do so.

They suggested that she produce written reports that can be included in the informational packets the board receives on the Fridays before board meetings in order to cut down on the time spent discussing her plans at board meetings.

After the meeting, Ms. Ford said she was shocked at the sudden closure of the meeting, but that she would comply with the request for written reports.