Suspension leads SSSD super to quit

SCRANTON – Dr. Monita Hara, superintendent at the Scranton State School for the Deaf, resigned Tuesday after she received at 10-day suspension for talking to the media.

Hara said she was called to Harrisburg Tuesday for a meeting with officials from the state Department of Education. She said during the meeting she was accused of talking to the attorney for parents who have brought a federal lawsuit against the state and for talking to media about the decision to close the school.

“I never talked to the attorney,” Hara said. “And as far as talking to the media, how can I be an effective superintendent if I can’t discuss what is going on at my school?”

Hara said she was told she would receive a 10-day suspension without pay and then would be transferred to Harrisburg. She said she was not told what her job would be upon transfer.

“I find it interesting that during this process we were told that the school needed $70 million in repairs and then later the building was called a Taj Mahal,” she said. “And we were criticized for our students’ academic achievements, yet 80 percent of our graduates this year have been accepted into college. I can’t work for people who hide the truth.”

Dr. Gerald L. Zahorchak, state secretary of education, sent a letter to SSSD employees informing them of Hara’s resignation. William O’Neill, business manager at the school, has been named acting superintendent, effective immediately.

Zahorchak revealed that SSSD will be renamed the Scranton School for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children – Division of the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf.

“Simply put, it is time to move forward as expeditiously as possible,” Zahorchak wrote.

Hara said she turned in her keys to the school and her Blackberry. She returned her state vehicle when she returned home Tuesday.

“My premise was to support the students and the staff,” Hara said. “I will be moving out of the area; my whole passion is working with deaf children and I want to continue doing that.”

State Rep. Kevin Murphy, who presented Gov. Ed Rendell with petitions signed by 51,000 people who opposed closing the school, said Hara’s resignation is a great loss for deaf education in Pennsylvania.

“I find it shameful that she was not allowed to speak her true feelings on what she feels is in the best interests of the students at her school,” Murphy said. “I don’t think she should have been punished for speaking out passionately on behalf of the students who she was responsible for educating.”

Murphy said he applauds Hara for her courage in speaking out against the closing of SSSD.

“I wonder if she had been a proponent of closing SSSD and spoke out publicly, would she still have been suspended, or was she suspended because she dared to oppose the decision?” he said.

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State officials accused her of talking to attorney for parents who sued state and for talking to news media, she says.

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