Lake-Lehman School Board extends superintendent’s contract, with a raise

LEHMAN TWP. — Plans for re-opening schools may have dominated the Lake-Lehman virtual School Board meeting Monday, but the agenda included some big items that probably would have made headlines in a non-pandemic situation. One of them: Approval of a new contract with Superintendent James McGovern running from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2026.

The board also approved a 2.5% raise for McGovern, coupled with a $30 healthcare contribution per paycheck. The contract amount was not listed in agenda documents and could not immediately be confirmed on Tuesday.

McGovern has been in public school administration since 2001, when he left a teaching post at Dallas to become Crestwood High School principal, a post he resigned in 2002 to return to Dallas as assistant high school principal. In 2005 he was made assistant superintendent at Dallas.

He landed the job as Lake-Lehman Superintendent in 2006, coming out on top of a list of 17 applicants. At the time, he was almost certainly the youngest superintendent in Luzerne County’s 11 districts, at the age of 37. He has held the post ever since, and after 14 years may well be the local superintendent with the longest tenure on the job in a single district.

The board also appointed Michael Kostrobala as assistant secondary principal at a salary of $82,000, and appointed Heather Wertman as director of pupil services/logistics at a salary of $89,319. And the board approved a new “Act 93” compensation plan running from July 1 this year to July 20 next year.

Act 93 is the state law governing how compensation is set for administrators and other staff below superintendent but not belonging to a union that negotiates its own contract. It is usually described as “meet and discuss,” as the school board is not required to arrange formal negotiations or hold to other rules required with unionized employees.

The board also changed child care providers, terminating an agreement with Bright Horizons (formerly Hildebrandt Learning Centers, LLC) effective immediately, and approving an agreement with Building Blocks, of the Saeed Family Corporation in Wilkes-Barre.