Zernick

After leading the Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center as interim director for more than seven months, Nicole Zernick was promoted to executive director by unanimous vote during the school’s Thursday night meeting.

Zernick, formerly the vo-tech’s assistant executive director, had filled the position left vacant by previous executive director Eric Palmer after he was charged with 10 felony charges of child pornography and one felony count of criminal use of a communication facility in November 2024.

Palmer pled no contest to the charges before Indiana County President Judge Thomas Bianco in April and submitted his letter of resignation to the school that same day, which was accepted by the GACTC’s Joint Operating Committee in May.

Zernick began at the GACTC in September 2014 as a continuing education recruitment and retention specialist, before going on to serve as adult education coordinator, career and technical education coordinator and assistant director.

An educator since 2003, Zernick held positions at Richland School District, Bethel Park School District and Altoona Area School District prior to her tenure at the GACTC.

Zernick said that one of the most important lessons she learned during her time as interim director is the value of making students and staff feel constantly supported by school administration and how to fully utilize the expertise of the eight send school districts through the JOC.

“I’m really looking forward to making strong relationships with our community members and businesses to make sure we can, in turn, provide the best opportunities to our adult and high school students,” she said.

According to the meeting agenda, Zernick will begin her new role effective July 1 with a base salary of $135,000 with full benefits.

Later in the meeting, the JOC unanimously approved a contract with Siemens to replace six of the seven total HVAC control units throughout the building at a cost of $145,046.

The installation work will begin as soon as possible, Zernick said, and will hopefully be completed before the start of the 2025-26 school year.

Mirror Staff Writer Conner Goetz is at 814-946-7535.