The Pleasant Valley School Board approved the retirement of Robert Hines, the assistant principal at the high school at their meeting Thursday night. His retirement is effective on Nov. 30.

This follows the retirement announcement of the school district’s business manager, Susan Famularo, in September. Her last day on the job is Dec. 31.

Both Hines and Famularo were praised and thanked for their work by the school board and the administration.

High school Principal Matthew Triolo said Hines was his first mentor as an administrator in the school district.

“Every good trait that I have came from him. Everything I learned at the beginning of my career came from him. He’s a wonderful man,” Triolo said. “His biggest attribute is he was a leader that did it with care, and he did it by building relationships back when that wasn’t such a popular thing. He’s going to be greatly missed.”

School board Director Laura Jecker said, “He has a wealth of knowledge and was always a bright smile to cheer people up, no matter what their mood was, so he will be dearly missed.”

In September, school board Director Dan Wunder spoke about Famularo. He said that before the pandemic, he sat next to her in the meetings.

“It has been a pleasure and honor to sit there and have her as a part of our administrative team. She is a very dedicated employee,” he said. “I found her answering all of my questions and all of our questions with honesty and integrity, and Susan, you will be missed.”

“Thank you for all of your service,” school board President Donna Yozwiak said.

Positions filled

The school district has been making some changes to job titles and description of positions since June. The position of technology coordinator is not new to the district, but it now encompasses the roles of lead administrator of the Pleasant Valley Cyber Academy, as well as director of technology, both of which were previously held by Superintendent Lee Lesisko. Changes were also made to the description of the positions of assistant to the superintendent and information systems technician.

At the meeting Thursday night, Charles Tomori was made the new technology coordinator at a salary of $70,000 (prorated), replacing Lesisko. He was the former information systems technician.

Andrew Krock was appointed as a new information systems technician at a salary of $43,666 (prorated), replacing Elke Reeves. His former position was as a maintenance technician.

Also retiring from the school district are Cindy DePue, a monitor, effective Aug. 31, and Debra Howell, a paraprofessional associate, effective Sept. 3. Both women worked at the high school.