EXETER — Wyoming Area School Board members voted in Rick Branco as the new boys varsity soccer coach at their monthly meeting Tuesday.

Previous soccer coach Nick Hufford stepped down at the conclusion of the 2015 season.

According to school board member Deanna Farrell, Branco has a resume in coaching soccer which made him an easy hire.

“He (played on) travel teams all over the world, including the United Kingdom,” she said. “He applied for the job and we were hesitant to hire him, but he had six letters of recommendation and we were determined that we weren’t going to hire him because we thought they were just bullying us into hiring him. Then, he started to speak to us and he was just wonderful.”

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Farrell said the school board received four letters about Branco’s history with coaching.

“They were just so blowing up about how great he was with kids,” she said. “The letters talked about how hard he works and mostly what a good job he’s done with coaching kids.”

School board members also approved the adoption of the 2016-2017 Preliminary School Operating Budget with expenditures of $32,952,626 with a tax rate of 15.4127 mills for Exeter Borough, Exeter Township, Luzerne County, West Pittston, West Wyoming and Wyoming and a of 75.9986 mills for Exeter Township and Wyoming County.

The decision was passed 9-1 with Carl Yorina voting no.

• In other business, school board members approved:

• A revised professional substitute list for the current school year.

• Sheryl Scrobola’s letter of resignation as Itinerant Support Teacher ,effective Feb. 29.

• The appointment of Lindsey Szalkowski as a Temporary Professional Employee Special Education Teacher, effective Jan. 27.

• The agreement between Wyoming Area Education Support Professionals and the Wyoming Area School District to allow any member of the support staff to voluntarily donate one sick day during the school year to be used at the discretion of Richard Dushock, custodian, who is on a medical leave of absence.

The next Wyoming Area School Board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 23 in the Secondary Center Auditorium, 20 Memorial St.

By Jimmy Fisher

jfisher@timesleader.com

Reach Jimmy Fisher at 570-704-3972 or on Twitter @SD_JimmyFisher