Pleasant Valley's new superintendent Dave Piperato presided over his first solo board meeting on Thursday evening. The meeting room was packed with Pleasant Valley Education Association governing members and faculty who came to the meeting.

"We are all here to welcome you," PSEA President John Gesiskie said. "We are all looking forward to working with you."Piperato graciously accepted the sentiments and returned them."I met with Mr. Piperato before his taking over. We talked about his goals and his expectation of the PSEA," Gesiskie said after the meeting. "He knows that it is the teachers and staff that get things done, that we are the ones in the trenches, so to say.""We have openly discussed our concerns with how things were done in the past and he recognizes our frustrations."Piperato had discussed the importance of building trust with the faculty and staff in a previous interview. Gesiskie echoed that."We want to rebuild the trust that we had with past administrations, and I think that we can do that," he said. "All we ask is that when we say something, hear us. When we make suggestions or offer solutions, it is because we deal with it every day."We love what we do, and right now we have a whole new gambit, we are building a new relationship," Gesiskie said. "We are all very excited, and when teachers get excited, the kids get excited, it's contagious."Public commentDuring public comment, incoming school board Director Donna Yozwiak again asked about the hiring of criminal defense attorney Marc Neff. Her questions centered on taxpayers paying for a criminal defense attorney.Solicitor Robert Kidwell explained that Neff was hired to advise employees and board members who had been called to testify before a grand jury empaneled in Monroe County.Yozwiak asked, hypothetically, if the district would pay a for a criminal defense attorney for an employee charged with a crime, to which Kidwell answered that he would advise strongly against that, but that in this instance, no criminal charges have been recommended so far.While the district has been instructed not to comment on the grand jury proceedings, it is well-known that there was an incident last year at Pleasant Valley Elementary School where video cameras were installed in the faculty lounge without the knowledge of the faculty.Chestnuthill resident Jason Kish asked the board to explain why the district had contracted with an outside source for the services of Barbara Bradley instead of hiring from within. Bradley will be working as a co-principal with Roger Pomposello at the elementary this coming school year while Principal Erica Greer is on sabbatical.Piperato offered to meet and discuss that matter with Kish at another time, but said that the board meeting was not the proper place to discuss personnel matters.Business matterThe board agreed to a Release of Taxes for Eldred Township for a strip of property commonly known as the "Old Mill." The mill has since been demolished and the owner, an insurance company from out-of-state, agreed to deed the property over to the township if the county and the school district released the tax liens."I want to thank you on behalf of Eldred Township," said Eldred Chairwoman Mary Anne Clausen. "The property sits in the center of Kunkletown with a piece of the Buckwha running through it and the stone arch bridge."The township is planning on using the property as a town center.