The Pleasant Valley School Board meeting was delayed by 30 minutes as they discussed switching a guidance counselor from the high school to the middle school and vice versa in executive session.

The topic came up again during public comment early in the meeting and ended in a 5-3 vote passing the move. School board Vice President Michael Galler was absent. The meeting was originally scheduled for Dec. 15, but was rescheduled due to the snowstorm.

The plan involves guidance counselor Sherri Fallon being moved from the high school to the middle school, and guidance counselor Allison Gimbi being moved from the middle school to the high school. Superintendent James Konrad did not give a reason for the move.

Christopher Jarrow, president of the Pleasant Valley Education Association, said during the public comment about moving Fallon, “Dr. Konrad certainly has the right of assignment. What I’m asking all of you to consider is what is the impact on the other 300 teachers you have here at Pleasant Valley if we’re going to take someone who has been in her position 25 years, and we say now we’re going to transfer her involuntarily to another position.”

Before voting, directors Todd Kresge and Teresa Greggo announced that they were going to vote against moving the guidance counselors. Delbert Zacharias joined them in a vote against the move.

School board President Susan Kresge said it was “a very difficult discussion item for all of us,” but they did revise it to reflect that discussion.

Originally, the move was to be effective Dec. 20, but the school board decided during the executive session to make it effective as of the beginning of the second semester, as long as there is a transition plan put in place to support the needs of the students.

“When we hired Dr. Konrad, our district was in dire need of good leadership and he has brought us good leadership,” Kresge said. “I will support the recommendation … because we need to continue to move Pleasant Valley forward and in the right direction.”