Amazingly thorough Saucon supe contract story

Boom.

This Lehigh Valley News story on the superintendent contract dives so deep! It hits hard. And it even has a dateline, like the nationals:

HELLERTOWN, Pa. — After resident complaints about transparency, Saucon Valley School District has posted the full copy of Superintendent Jaime Vlasaty’s new four-year contract online for the public to view for the first time.

That’s after LehighValleyNews.com kept asking about it.

As the song goes, here comes the sun. It’s very, very illuminating, too. Reporter Jenny Roberts goes on to provide a detailed, 1,000-lumens examination of the contract-approval process, including a contextualizing interview with a Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association lawyer:

Melissa Melewsky, counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said the timing of [Mark] Fitzgerald’s statements may have caused a potential problem as it relates to the state Sunshine Act. …

Melewsky said the law requires that residents be given the chance to provide “meaningful public comment.” And that can’t happen if they don’t know any information about the item being voted on, she said.

“It would be like saying we’re going to vote 'yes' on proposed policy 123. If I don’t know what’s in policy 123, how can I possibly give meaningful comment on it?” Melewsky said.

I don’t mean to sound patronizing at all, but I feel grateful about just how thorough this kind of community journalism can be. Saucon Valley schools get the attention—and scrutiny—I feel that they deserve.