MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — Everybody in this line is here at Pleasant Valley Middle School for one reason.
"He put his resignation in, and they are rehiring him at 25,000 dollars more," said Donna Deihl, Pleasant Valley.
The Pleasant Valley School Board and Superintendent James Konrad are facing significant criticism from the community for their decision to increase Konrad's salary by more than $20,000, a decision that was supposed to be discussed at Monday's school board meeting.
"Why did they feel like he deserves a $25,000 raise when our students are struggling in math and reading, our district, the kids are struggling," said Deana Burger, Pleasant Valley.
"Seems like the school is a mess right now, and this is like the icing on the cake. There's a lot of questions about this man. Hopefully, we'll get some answers tonight," said Deihl.
Unfortunately for Donna Deihl, the school board decided to remove any discussion of the superintendent's contract and salary from the agenda right before the meeting began.
"They had the opportunity to leave it on the agenda; they knew the people probably did come, it doesn't matter what they came for, they were here, they needed their opportunity to speak. Those people who showed up needed their opportunity to speak," said Janet Dooner, Polk Township.
"I think they're afraid; they see the turnout, so they don't want to address it, and a lot of people are angry. They're upset," said Evelyn Dinovo, Chestnut Hill Township.
The school board said in the meeting that they're postponing this agenda item in order to prepare a presentation to outline their reasoning for the salary increase.
They have not said yet when that presentation will be.