Residents question district's new hire

Transportation supervisor meets all requirements for job, officials say

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The Board of Education voted 3-1 on March 31 to appoint a new supervisor of transportation to manage the district’s $6 million Transportation Department, but not before some residents questioned the new employee’s qualifications and the district’s decision to hire him.

Residents took to social media to express their concerns about the appointee, Christopher Malone, noting that he does not possess a commercial driver’s license and is not an Article 19-A certified examiner, which means he cannot evaluate bus drivers so they can maintain their certification.

Board Vice President Stewart Mininsky voted against Malone’s appointment, and Trustee Darlene Tangney abstained from the vote. They did not immediately respond to emails from the Herald requesting comment.

Malone stepped into the vacant position after former Supervisor Claudia Hardes left the district at the beginning of March, and will officially start work on May 2. The job involves managing the operation and repair of the district’s fleet of buses, according to a vacancy announcement posted by the district, as well as overseeing the hiring, supervising and evaluation of all Transportation Department staff.

But the Facebook group Citizens to Save Long Beach Schools pointed out that the announcement states that the supervisor of transportation “must be a 19-A certified examiner,” and this sparked some of the online backlash from community members.

Schools Superintendent David Weiss said that a candidate with all of the district’s original qualifications for the position “was not imminently available.” He added that the position needed to be filled immediately, and that Malone met all of the Civil Service requirements for the job, including a minimum of five years’ experience in the supervision of a school district transportation system. District lawyers reviewed the appointment when the controversy arose, and determined that the hire was correct and legal, Weiss said.

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