Some members of McKeesport Area school board are unhappy about a pay raise the board reluctantly approved for a school administrator by a 5-3 vote last week.

The raise increases the salary of Charlene Greene, whose title is special assignment coordinator to the superintendent, by $5,000 over a two-year period. Some board members say the raise was granted by the district's former superintendent, Pat Risha, without informing the board or seeking its approval.

"I have a real problem with this when it is coming from taxpayer money," said board member Barbara Stevenson, who, along with members Kathy Ritchie and Paula Milko, voted against it. "We did not authorize it."

The raise was not accounted for in the district's latest budget.

According to school officials, Mr. Risha promised the raise to Ms. Greene in writing last year, shortly before he resigned to accept a job as superintendent of West Mifflin Area School District in October.

Ms. Greene, who is to retire this year, had served as associate principal of the high school before she was assigned to her current administrative position in June 2005. The raise from the district, $2,500 a year for the past two years, is intended to compensate Ms. Greene for the time she's served in the new position.

Ms. Greene, who was not at the meeting, said she had expected a pay increase in her new position but was passed over, probably because of an oversight by the board. She said she waited for a year for members to make the adjustment, then decided to ask Mr. Risha to sign an agreement granting her the raise because he was leaving the district and she was getting ready to retire.

"The board should have noticed [that it omitted her name from the list of raises] but didn't," she said. "I accepted partially based on the salary adjustment."

Reached by telephone Mr. Risha said he couldn't comment on why he signed the agreement granting the raise.

"It's a personnel issue," he said. "It shouldn't have been discussed at the [public] meeting."

Members who approved the raise did so for various reasons.

Board Vice President Mark Holtzman said the former superintendent had kept him and other board members apprised of his intentions to grant the raise so he would consequently support her receiving the money.

Member Dave Donato said Mr. Risha unquestionably had no right to grant the raise, but he would approve it anyway because the legal cost of fighting it could easily exceed the "nominal amount" of money in the raise.

"He left us a souvenir," Mr. Donato said. "I've got a hunch we're going to be cleaning up messes like this for a while."

A number of board members expressed concern that more such agreements could be brought before the board.

District solicitor Gary Matta said the district was not legally bound by the agreement.

"I think [Ms. Greene] was in a tough position. I couldn't see that someone could possibly believe that she detrimentally relied on a promise. Clearly the school code says that the board has to take an action. No promise by anyone can supersede what the board does," he said.

But, he said, he understood the board's reluctance to fight the agreement based on potential legal costs. He said the board considered the length of Ms. Greene's service to the district in reaching its decision.