Before a standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 people, the West Mifflin school board on Tuesday replaced longtime girls' head basketball coach Phil Shar, approved a 2009-2010 $45.4 million budget with a 0.7-mill tax hike and created three new administrative positions.

The actions took place within a matter of minutes, with little explanation and with the 34-page agendas handed out just moments before the votes were taken.

Most in the audience appeared confused as to what actions the board was voting on. The majority appeared to be at the meeting to witness the vote on the girls' basketball coaching position, but many left not sure who actually got the job.

That's because the board voted on a long list of personnel items without reading anything other than the numbers of the items aloud.

Assistant Superintendent Janet Sardon said there was nothing unusual about that since it's been the board's practice for the past 2 1/2 years.

The girls' head coach position was an action on page 29 of the agenda. It was item No. 12 on a list of 33 extra-duty hires. The board voted 5-4 to hire Mindy McClelland as the new girls' head coach. Her stipend will be $7,791.

The new administrative positions -- a middle school dean of students, a dean of students at Emerson Elementary and an administrator for the cyber program -- were not on the agenda given to the public.

But they were listed on a single-page addendum placed on a table for the public after the meeting.

Dr. Sardon said the board never lists new personnel hires on the agenda but makes the information available to the public after the vote is taken to approve the hires officially.

As for the late-arriving agendas, Business Manager and Board Secretary Dennis Cmar said they were late in coming because the board held its workshop session just one hour prior to the voting meeting.

Therefore, the agendas could not be finalized and photocopied until after the workshop session and weren't ready until just before the board voted.

The new middle school dean of students is Ed Schrader, and the Emerson dean of students is Tony DeCenzo; salary of each man is $40,000, Mr. Cmar said.

There were no salaries available for Rob Campana and Chuck Michael, who will share the administrative duties for the cyber program the district plans to start in the fall. Mr. Cmar said the men will be paid hourly rates for their work.

Contacted after the meeting, board President Ned Mervos declined to discuss the creation of the new administrative positions.

Dr. Sardon said the positions were not listed in the agenda because it is the district's practice not to make public the list of people hired until after the board votes.

She said the board voted publicly earlier this year to create the position of middle school dean of students as part of the restructuring of administrative positions and as part of the district's five-year plan.

Since that public vote, Dr. Sardon said there were private board discussions during which members decided to create a second dean of students position for Emerson Elementary. She said it was a less expensive option than filling the open assistant principal's position at the school.

Replacing a principal would have cost the district between $50,000-$65,000, she said.

The job responsibilities for the deans will include working with the principals on disciplinary issues, behavior guidelines and students who are tardy.

The large audience appeared to be interested mostly in the vote on the girls basketball position.

During the public comment session held at the beginning of the meeting before the agenda was distributed, eight people spoke in favor of retaining Mr. Shar, including his wife and brother.

Several residents also tried to question the board on why it is permitting Superintendent Patrick Risha to work mainly from his Belle Vernon home rather than the district office.

But solicitor Jack Cambest said federal law prohibits the board from discussing any employee's health issues.

Mr Risha's absence from his district office was revealed by Mr. Shar several weeks ago after Mr. Risha opened Mr. Shar's contract.

Mr. Risha told the Post-Gazette he has weight-related health issues that prevent him from sitting at a desk for more than two hours and that he was under a physician's care as he prepares for gastric bypass surgery.

But Mr. Risha made no comments at Tuesday's meeting about his health or his arrangement to work from home.

Mr. Risha opened Mr. Shar's contract on May 27 in response to derogatory comments the coach made about the superintendent in local newspapers.

Mr. Shar made his comments after he found out that a recently approved early bird teachers contract included a clause that gives teachers the first opportunity for any extra-duty position for which they are qualified.

Mr. Risha had negotiated a three-year exemption to that clause for the girls basketball head coach, which would have allowed Mr. Shar to coach the girls currently in ninth grade through graduation.

But Mr. Shar was angry that any limits were being placed on the number of years that he could coach.

In various newspaper articles, Mr. Shar contended that Mr. Risha did not care about student athletes and said he would be coaching "under a reign of terror" if he accepted a three-year extension.

Mr. Shar also accused Mr. Risha of being an "absentee superintendent" because he works mainly from his home in Belle Vernon, Fayette County, rather than his district office.

Mr. Risha said he opened Mr. Shar's contract because he could not allow an employee to publicly disrespect the superintendent.

Mr. Shar contended the real reason his contract was opened in May was that he spoke out against a proposed tax increase that he believed would be included in the district's preliminary budget.

In fact, the preliminary budget did not include a taxboost. But the 2009-2010 $45.4 million spending plan the board approved Tuesday does include the 0.7-mill tax hike.

Mr. Cmar said the preliminary budget called for taking $1.8 million out of the district's reserve fund to avoid a tax increase. But he said after further discussion, "the board did not want to put the fund balance that much at risk in a very turbulent financial environment."

As a result, the board and administration made some $697,000 in cuts, moved $457,203 from the fund balance and raised taxes by 0.7 mills to balance the budget.

The millage increase will create a tax increase of $46.20 on a home assessed at $66,000, which is the median assessment in West Mifflin, Mr. Cmar said.

However, Mr. Cmar said West Mifflin property owners could expect a tax reduction of $221.20 from gaming revenues. Therefore, taxes on a home assessed at $66,000 actually will decrease by $175, he said.