Originally Published: 8/19/2010
Oley Valley to probe charge against proposed official
By Kristin Boyd
Reading Eagle
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The Oley Valley School District is having its solicitor look into the criminal charge against a woman who is supposed to be its next assistant superintendent.
Dr. Tracy S. Shank, whom the board voted to hire July 14, is charged with making false reports to police in York County.
“While the investigation is being conducted, Dr. Shank will not be reporting to work or being paid,” Dr. Jeffrey Zackon, superintendent, read from a prepared statement during Wednesday night’s school board meeting.
The statement also said, “There has been no employment agreement signed by the parties.”
Shank and her attorney, Brian F. Boland of Kozloff Stoudt Attorneys, Spring Township, are cooperating with the investigation, Zackon said.
He declined to provide further details, saying it was a personnel matter.
Boland could not be reached for comment.
Resident Cynthia Smith told the school board members they should be careful in how they handle the matter, which she called a “mud puddle.”
“The last thing we need in this school district is another legal mess,” she said.
Shank is free awaiting a September preliminary hearing on the criminal charge in York County.
Police said she falsely reported that she was being stalked by a man who turned out to be her neighbor and later admitted to making up portions of her account to police.
Shank already was under a cloud of a different sort when police filed the charge.
She was previously superintendent of the South Eastern School District. Earlier this month, the school board there rejected her resignation, dated July 17.
Her status there is unclear, though a board resolution states she has not been at work since July 19.
The district’s website lists Dr. Robert Wildasin as substitute superintendent.
Contact Kristin Boyd: 610-371-5016 or .
