The hiring of a private investigative and security firm by the West Mifflin school board last week may be unusual but is not inappropriate nor is it unprecedented, according to education officials.

At the urging of school director Phil Shar, the board voted 6-3 to hire Gentile-Meinert and Associates Inc., of Monaca, to review personnel issues and district operations. Solicitor Jack Cambest said the firm would review the district's operations for the past five to six years at a cost of $5,500.

Neither Mr. Shar nor Mr. Cambest or any of the school directors who voted for the measure would offer any detailed explanation as to what the firm will be investigating. Nor was any time frame given for the investigation.

Those who voted in favor, in addition to Mr. Shar, were board President Michael Price, Vice President Ted Cale and school directors Richard Fialkovich, Nick Alexandroff and John Donis.

Those who opposed the hiring were school directors Ned Mervos, Kathleen Bracco and Albert Graham.

West Mifflin Councilman Richard Olasz suggested the hiring and the expenditure of money was inappropriate. Mr. Olasz contended that if board members believe there is wrongdoing by district employees, the board should take the matter to either the state attorney general, auditor general or district attorney.

"That is simply not true," said Stuart Knade, legal counsel for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. "There are all kinds of things that school districts may have reasons to investigate and to hire a private investigator."

Mr. Knade said a district could use a private investigator to uncover facts that would later be turned over to a public investigative body, which may not have the resources to conduct the initial investigation. Districts also regularly hire private investigators to determine if worker's compensation claims are legitimate or if there is computer fraud.

Mr. Knade said it is also routine for boards not to disclose the topic of the investigation when they hire a private firm.

"You need the authorization to spend money and that must be done in public. But you do not need to specify the situation," he said.

Michael Race, a spokesman for the state Education Department, said local school boards are free to hire investigative firms and that the department has no position on it.

Mr. Race said that if a review was being done because of "alleged wrongdoing," that would eventually become the responsibility of prosecutorial agencies, such as the local district attorney or the state attorney general.

Last week's vote is not the first time Gentile-Meinert was hired for an investigation in West Mifflin. In 1999, the West Mifflin Sanitary Sewer Municipal Authority hired Gentile-Meinert as one of several firms to audit and investigate improprieties in authority operations and spending by employees and board members.

The investigations prompted the borough council to ask the entire five-member board to resign. Three members did and one member's term lapsed. All of the audit and investigative material was turned over the state Ethics Commission.

In November 2002, Cynthia Sullivan, who had served as the authority chairwoman and assistant secretary and assistant treasurer, paid $3,000 to the ethics commission to satisfy what was termed "numerous deliberate violations of the public trust."

The commission's analysis of authority credit cards, checks, expenses and manpower uses detailed a number of violations between 1998 and 2000.

They included the use of employees, credit cards and authority materials for a hot tub installation, painting, garage door repair, door installation, daily medicating of Sullivan's dog -- all at Ms. Sullivan's home -- and a trip to a veterinary clinic in Cleveland.

The investigation also uncovered charges for business meetings, travel and lunches that never occurred. The commission found that Ms. Sullivan, as a voting board member, approved illegal payments benefiting herself 17 times and signed 12 checks that benefited her.

Gentile-Meinert also has been hired for investigations in recent years by the Pittsburgh Ethics Hearing Board to investigate allegations of wrongdoing that came before the board.

The firm was hired by the Upper St. Clair School District in 2008 to review the district's security in the wake of allegations that a freshman boy sexually assaulted at least four students, some on school property.

Similarly, the Wilkinsburg School District hired the firm in 2005 to improve security at the high school after a security guard allowed a female student to dispose of a gun before entering the school.

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