The Ligonier Valley School District Board of Directors voted 7-0 Monday to hire an interim superintendent.

Peter Emery D’Arcangelo will lead the district in a part-time capacity while the district Superintendent Tim Kantor is on an extended leave of absence.

D’Arcangelo, a former school administrator who now works in consulting, retired as Franklin Regional School District’s superintendent in 2013 after nine years with the district. 

He now works as a superintendent search consultant, helping school districts throughout western Pennsylvania find quality top administrators. D’Arcangelo was recently hired to assist the Greater Latrobe and Punxsutawney Area school districts find their next superintendent. He was also hired by Hempfield Area School District last year while it looked for a new superintendent, according to TribLive.

LVSD solicitor Gary Matta said D’Arcangelo was one of a few retired superintendents he had worked with in the past whom he believed would be a good fit for the district, and he recommended him to the board for consideration.

“He knows how to run a school district, very good with (school) boards, very good with community,” Matta said after Monday’s meeting.

As a bonus, Matta said D’Arcangelo, a Windber native, lives near the district and frequently visits the Ligonier area.

“I think the sell (with D’Arcangelo) was, ‘I can be there in 10 minutes,’” Matta added.

Given the part-time nature of the position, D’Arcangelo will be paid $150 per hour, not exceeding $650 per day. No end date on D’Arcangelo’s employment at LVSD was announced.

School Directors Josi Bennett and Irma Hutchinson were not in attendance Monday.

Other personnel changes Monday included the accepted resignations of Edward Moran, director of education, and Charles Johnson, Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps instructor. Moran will retire April 1 while Johnson will retire at the conclusion of the school year.

The board of directors also moved Monday to enter into two class-action lawsuits being pursued by national firms related to insulin pricing and social media.

In both cases, the school district is signing on to cases brought forth by California-based Frantz Law Group, who is leading the national case, and Dillon McCandless, King Coulter and Graham, LLP in Ebensburg, which is overseeing Pennsylvania-based complainants like LVSD.

There is no cost to the district for either lawsuit, but Matta and his firm, Dodaro, Dalfonso, Matta & Cambest, P.C., will be compensated from any potential settlement.

According to its website, Frantz Law Group alleges insulin manufacturers are liable for increases in the cost of the medication by more than 1,000% since 2003. The district alleges that insulin manufacturers have overcharged for insulin purchased through its health care plans.

The same law groups are suing social media companies like Facebook parent company Meta, Google-owned YouTube and TikTok, for alleged harm caused by their platforms that affected student performance.

“These companies have caused a mental health crisis among children and teenagers that is marked by higher proportions of anxiety, depression, and thoughts of self-harm, all of which severely affect their ability to succeed in school,” according to the Frantz Law Group website.

Matta told the board he’s worked with other law firms in the past on handling class-action lawsuits. In one instance, a district received between $75,000 and $80,000 from a settlement involving vaping.

“We think these class action suits may be worth it,” Matta said. “So there’s a good possibility that the district will receive some funds out of them.”

After months of reevaluating its K-8 science curriculum book purchases, the school board approved a six-year agreement with McGraw Hill. The district will purchase the K-8 Inspire Science curriculum for a total of $163,556.56 paid in three installments between July 2025 and July 2026. 

The school board shot down the selection of the TWIG Education Science curriculum back in October, forming an ad-hoc committee shortly after to reevaluate all the choices. 

Last year, teachers were presented with only two options. After a second review, TWIG ranked near the bottom of the list, according to school directors.

The selection of McGraw Hill also comes at increased cost compared to TWIG, roughly $70,000 more than the curriculum school directors said was technology heavy when it came to lessons.

School Director Joe Vella called the options last year a choice of “the best of the worst.”

Vella added that he hoped what came from the ad-hoc committee can be built upon and formalized into a process that is used for all curriculum selections going forward.

In other business, the board of directors approved the following:

• An agreement with Varsity Yearbook to publish the 2026 middle school yearbook at a cost of $4,733.10, at no cost to the district;

• The stipend payment to Rachel Kurdziel in the amount of $9,440 for serving as the sole building administrator at the high school from Aug. 1, 2024, through March 2;

• Hired Terri Kells as a substitute custodian upon approval of all necessary clearances;

• Victoria Krouse and Rebekah Daugherty were given retroactive approval to work as athletic event staff at all varsity home games for the remainder of the school year. Johna McNulty was also approved to work as event staff;

• Cassidy Patrick was approved to serve as a program volunteer boys and girls track and field for the remainder of the school year, and

• Mary Laughlin resigned, effective immediately, as the high school musical production assistant director. Austin Steffey was appointed to the supplemental position. School Director Gary Steffey abstained from the 6-0-1 vote appointing Austin Steffey.

During public comment, resident Christy Boyd asked again for an update on the district’s trauma-informed care plan. A vote on the plan was tabled back in October for further review after some school directors had concerns with it.

“This policy directly impacts the well-being of our students and staff, yet it has been stalled for months without a clear resolution,” Boyd said. 

Boyd requested a definitive timeline for reviewing, finalizing, and voting on the plan, along with assurances that all necessary steps are being taken to secure future Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) grant funding.

The PCCD uses the plans as part of its grant distributions. The grants are typically used for items like hiring school resource officers or mental health training for staff and programs for students.

School Director Cindy Brown said that while the plan hasn’t been formalized all of the training that is a part of that plan continues.

“This plan is nothing that we are not doing in business segments, in everything we’re doing throughout the district,” Brown said. “It’s just it has never been put into one comprehensive package to be able to be turned in, entitled the trauma-informed care plan.”

Vella said there will be a meeting in the near future to go over the plan but no date has been set. School board officials reiterated past information provided by Kantor that not having a plan this year doesn’t affect any possible grants for the current school year as those have been distributed already. A plan would be needed by September and there is plenty of time to formalize it, Vella said.

Vella also added that he has plenty of experience with trauma-informed care and that he found some of the training provided introductory. At the end of the meeting, Vella clarified that he wasn’t attempting to come off as a “smart aleck.”

“I’ve adopted three children, two of which are from the foster system, and 13 years of therapy,” Vella said. “One of the things I should’ve talked about very, very early on is looking at these kids through the trauma lens and all that kind of stuff.”

Boyd also asked if Vella had completed the five-hour state-mandated training for school directors. Vella said he had not and was working with Matta on getting it finished. He agreed that it needs to get done.

“That’s on me; I dropped it and let it go with everything going on,” Vella said, “but I should pick that back up.”

Ligonier Borough resident Helen Sitler asked the board of directors if it had considered the possible cuts to the U.S. Department of Education. Sitler presented figures from the current district budget that shows it is expected to receive $724,056 in federal money, a bulk of which is earmarked for programs for the academic achievement of disadvantaged students. Another $60,000 comes from the school-based access Medicaid Reimbursement Program.

“What will be done to accommodate learning needs of disadvantaged students where funding of over $400,000 could change dramatically?” Sitler asked.

School directors said they hadn’t discussed any possible changes but trusted the district’s business manager, Eric Kocsis, was watching what’s happening and any possible effects. 

“If there’s one person in this room that I trust with the money in this district, he’s sitting right there,” said School Board President Don Gilbert, who pointed to Kocsis.” Because if a dime goes missing, he’ll tell us where it happened.”

Kocsis said Sitler’s figures are correct for the general budget but that the district benefits from close to additional $1 million it receives through the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit and cafeteria programs, which may also be affected.

Sitler urged school directors and residents to call their U.S. representatives and “demand hands off the Department of Education.”

The LVSD Board of Directors will hold its next meeting Monday, April 21, at the Ligonier Valley High School. The meeting will begin with the Committee of the Whole at 6 p.m. followed by the regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.