SHADYSIDE — Eric Mercer remains the Shadyside High School interim head volleyball coach — for now.

By a unanimous 5-0 vote, the Shadyside Local School District Board of Education decided at Monday evening’s regular meeting to keep the interim tag on Mercer and said it will put the head coaching position up for bid.

That decision was announced following a 55-minute executive session.

“(Today), the head coaching job for volleyball will be posted,” board president Mark Fijalkowski told those in attendance.

“It has to be posted for five days internally. In other words, if a teacher applies for the job and they’re qualified to do it, it’s pretty much theirs.”

He said if that yields no applicants, a notice will be placed in the newspaper.

“From there, applicants will be screened and interviews will take place within the next two weeks,” Fijalkowski said. “We’re not going to delay this thing until the end of whenever, OK?”

Fijalkowski added athletic director John Triveri, principal John Poilek and two board members will be present for the interviews. He didn’t say which board members would be present.

“That’s where we’re at with this right now,” Fijalkowski stated.

The head volleyball coaching position at Shadyside has been the subject of much discussion since former head coach Cindy Archer resigned Aug. 9, along with assistant coaches Tara Carpenter and Morgan Carpenter.

Archer and Tara Carpenter were two of the about 15 people who attended the meeting.

Curt Wach, a parent representing some of the community members in attendance, read from a prepared statement. He said the group was seeking answers as to the “process and reasoning used” in selecting the interim head coach (Mercer).

Wach read his statement, then the board members went into executive session before returning with their decision on the matter.

After Fijalkowski announced its decision, the board continued with its business, which included accepting the resignations of Archer and both Carpenters. The board also approved Mercer as interim coach, along with the hiring of Scott St. Clair as varsity assistant volleyball coach.

All of the votes were 5-0 with yes votes coming from board members Fijalkowski, Donna Joseph, Doug Campbell, Tom Brown and Dom Defelice.