By BOB JAGOLINZER
Journal Staff Writer

      JOHNSTON - It was supposed to have been conducted with the decorum of a court proceeding — orderly and calm, with reasoned arguments — but a School Committee hearing last night into whether former high school Assistant Principal Stephen F. Chrabaszcz should keep his job was anything but decorous.
       The six-hour session, attended by nearly 150 people, included repeated clashes between a lawyer for Chrabaszcz and the school board, two people being led out by police for being unruly, hooting and shouting when the proceedings seemed to be going against Chrabaszcz and prolonged applause when points were made in his favor.
       Finally, after three hours of running the meeting and trying to restore order, School Committee Chairwoman Robin Carlone asked police to clear the high school auditorium.
       They did. Only the School Committee, lawyers, witnesses and a reporter were allowed to stay. At that point, the session began to move along more smoothly.
       Shortly after 1 a.m., Carlone reported that the School Committee had voted 5 to 0 to sustain Schools Supt. Michael Jolin's decision not to rehire Chrabaszcz. She said Chrabaszcz can appeal the decision to the state commissioner of education.
       In June, the School Committee voted 2 to 1 to uphold Jolin's recommendation that Chrabaszcz not be rehired. He had been hired in August 1999, and his one-year contract had expired. At the time, Jolin said he thought there were others who could do a better job.
       The most contentious part of the night involved the testimony of Jolin, who was on the witness stand for well over an hour.
       Jolin said that as one of two assistant principals, Chrabaszcz was responsible for discipline in the school.
       Jolin said former Principal Cheryl Tutalo, interim Principal James DiPrete and present Principal Patricia K. Pitocchi all said they were concerned that Chrabaszcz was not doing his job. They said Chrabaszcz did not back teachers who were having problems with students and that he spent too much time on administrative matters dealing with discipline, such as notifying parents that their children were in trouble, rather than dealing with the offenders.
       “He was contributing to a lack of discipline” at the high school, Jolin said. “He was inflaming the situation.”
       Jolin said the situation at the school “bordered on chaos” on several occasions.
       Jolin said discipline is necessary for a school because it contributes to a sound learning environment.
       In April, Chrabaszcz was placed on paid administrative leave by Jolin.
       Jolin was subject to a lengthy and at times caustic cross examination by Gregory A. Carrara, one of Chrabaszcz's lawyers.
       “You have a doctor's degree. You do understand English, don't you?” Carrara said at one point when he was asking Jolin about written reports he had given to the School Committee.
       “You're trying to bring the audience into this,” said committee member Peter Voccio when that question drew hoots from the audience.
       At another point, when Carrara asked Jolin how much time he had spent observing Chrabaszcz, Voccio complained that Carrara expected Jolin to be “in every building every day.”
       Carrara seemed to want to turn the proceedings into an examination of Jolin's actions. That drew repeated objections from Stephen M. Robinson, Jolin's lawyer. Denise Lombardo Myers, the School Committee's lawyer, repeatedly told Carrara to change his line of questioning and stick to the issue of Chrabaszcz, not Jolin's actions.
       “You're handcuffing me,” Carrara complained.
       During the hearing, Chrabaszcz mostly sat quietly with his lawyers, shaking his head when testimony went against him. However, he objected when Carlone said members of the audience who were not on his witness list would not be allowed to speak.
       “In June [when the board first acted on the matter] you said everyone would be allowed to testify,” he said as he gestured angrily at the committee.
       During the hearing, several witnesses, including Deputy Police Chief Vito Scotti and parents, testified that Chrabaszcz seemed to be a competent administrator who had helped students.
       Scotti, who dealt with Chrabaszcz on several police-related matters, said he thought Chrabaszcz was “top shelf” as a disciplinarian.
       Norma Jean Pirri, Chrabaszcz's neighbor and a parent of two high school students, said Chrabaszcz talked to her daughters about taking the position before he acted.
       “I was very impressed by him,” she said. “He's a little loud and rough around the edges, but he's very approachable.”