The Pleasant Valley School District has opted for two co-principals at the high school for the foreseeable future instead of one principal.

The school board approved in a 5-to-1 vote Thursday night to change the status of the high school’s two assistant principals to co-principals. School board Director Norm Burger voted no, because he thinks the arrangement “has some risk to success.”

School board President Susan Kresge and Director Delbert Zacharias were absent from the meeting. School board Vice President Laura Jecker resigned at the district meeting Monday night.

The approval gives Co-Principals Jonathan Ayre and Brian Boylan a prorated salary of $100,000 each for the 2022-2023 school year and a start date of Aug. 15. Both men have been with the school district since early 2022, said Superintendent James Konrad.

“When we’re looking at staffing, we’re looking at skill sets of individuals. We’ve seen some great things come about from the two gentlemen working in tandem together,” Konrad said. “With upper administrative support, and constant communication and planning, we felt that they were a great recommendation. They are individuals who had outside experiences but then also started to formulate and build relationships with our teachers. What we’re trying to do is put people in the right places and really tap into the skill sets that these two have.”

According to their bios online, Ayre has been in education since 2008 and has worked as a science teacher. Boylan was a science teacher for 11 years at East Stroudsburg High School, where he rose to the level of dean of students before coming to PVHS.

“We have two experienced administrators who are working together to support kids,” Konrad said.

Each of the co-principals will be taking on separate duties to handle, Konrad said. Parents will be contacted shortly with an explanation of who is handling what and contact information.

The district is still looking for a music teacher for the middle school, but there are some other new hires.

The school board approved hiring Brooke Hillegass as an art teacher at the middle school. This is a new position at $47,367. They also hired Kyle Zehnbauer to be a computer technology teacher at the middle school for $46,467, replacing Bobbi Shupp; Tiffany Steigerwalt, school nurse at the elementary school for $46,467, replacing Alison Jochen; and Kristen Kram, social worker for $52,067, replacing Stefanie Warner.