Oliveri submits resignations

YATESVILLE – Joseph Oliveri abruptly resigned from the Pittston Area School Board and from his post as a Luzerne County Sheriff’s Deputy with tersely worded letters that cited “personal reasons” for his departures.

Though no one accused Oliveri of wrongdoing, three board members conceded the resignations rekindle suspicions that the board is not, as they had hoped, through the worst of an investigation that led to Superintendent Ross Scarantino pleading guilty to corruption charges.

“We were knocked down with Dr. Scarantino and I thought we were climbing back,” Board President Mark Singer said, “and now we get another setback and we’re going to just keep climbing.”

“I had an inkling it (the resignation) was coming over the weekend,” Board member Terry Best said, noting he had heard rumors. “Joe and I aren’t exactly friends. I supported him in the election, but when he got on the board he had made a lot of promises that he didn’t keep.”

Board member Robert Linskey echoed those comments, noting he had heard rumors recently and that he and Oliveri had been part of the same team during the 2005 election, but “we had a falling out, and we haven’t been very friendly.”

None of the three had talked to Oliveri after his resignation, and all three said they had not heard of any official charges or accusations against him, but even without charges, they said the timing hurts a board struggling to regain credibility.

They said that to their knowledge the FBI hasn’t made a return visit to the district, though Best said he knows of at least one teacher who was interviewed by investigators in the past week or so.

Scarantino signed a termination agreement with the school board, then lost his state pension worth about $117,000 annually as a result of the plea.

In April the FBI took district records regarding dealings with Intellacom, a computer company owned by Anthony Trombetta based in Plains Township, and King Paint and Glass in Kingston, owned by Richard Emanski. Oliveri’s son had worked for Intellacom while the company did business with both Pittston Area and the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center, which has also been targeted by investigators.

Oliveri served as Pittston Area’s representative on the Joint Operating Committee that runs the career center for the five member districts. Two former JOC representatives from Wilkes-Barre Area School Board, James Height and Brian Dunn, have been charged with corruption in the probe. Height resigned from the board and pleaded guilty. Dunn still awaits a hearing on his charges after three delays, and has not resigned from the Wilkes-Barre Area Board, though he has not attended any meetings for months.

Before resigning, Height had confirmed that he and several other area school board members had gone with Emanski on a vacation to Las Vegas. Height insisted he had paid his own way, and declined to name any of the others who attended, but on Monday Linskey said “I have been told Joe (Oliveri) was on that trip.”

Intellacom did extensive, no-bid work at Pittston high school installing a security system in 2007. Oliveri had made the motion to award that contract, along with 14 other agenda items approved in one vote during an April 2007 meeting.

That work was done under the Pennsylvania Education Purchasing Program for Microcomputers, or PEPPM. The state awards contracts through sealed bids, and districts can piggy-back on that contract. But invoices for that work at Pittston Area never went through the PEPPM office in Harrisburg.

Intellacom did similar no-bid work at the career center while Oliveri was on the JOC, and at Luzerne County Community College, where investigators have also taken records, and where Scarantino and former Pittston Area School Board member August Piazza had served on the board of trustees.

Oliveri first ran for the board in 2003 and won the primary but lost in November. He made a second attempt in 2005, teaming with Linskey, Kent Bratlee and John Adonizio, all of whom are still on the board.

Linskey soon split from the others once they were seated, often finding himself on the opposite side on key issues. Oliveri became board president for one year in December 2007. Three months later, the board hired his niece, Lyndsay Kmetz, for a full-time cafeteria position, sparking a heated debate about hiring policy and the fact that board members could nominate people at meetings without advance notice.

Oliveri abstained in a 5-3 vote that saw his former running mate, Linskey, voting against him, in favor of a candidate with 14 years part-time experience. Kmetz had two years part-time experience.

Oliveri teamed with newcomers Bruce Knick, Casey Donahue and Anthony Balavage in his quest for re-election this year but lost soundly in the May primary, coming in next to last on the Democratic ticket and last on the Republican ticket.

After the board accepts Oliveri’s resignation, it will have 30 days to pick a replacement to finish his term, which ends the first week of December. Singer said the board will probably vote on the resignation at its next meeting set for Aug. 18, and then accept letters from candidates interested in filling the post.

Singer said the 30-day limit will have passed before the September regular meeting, set for the 22nd, so the board will probably have to hold a special meeting to appoint a replacement.

Linskey and Best said they believe the board should appoint whoever received the most votes in the primary election. That would be Ross Latona, who got the second highest tally on the Democratic ticket behind Linskey and the highest on the Republican ticket.

The other winners on the Democratic ticket were Bruce Knick and Marilyn Starna, who came in third and fourth respectively. Starna came in fourth on the Republican ticket, and Robert Lampman came in third.

Linskey said he ran with Latona and believes he should be appointed to fill the post because he is virtually assured of being on the board after the November election.

Luzerne County Sheriff Michael Savokinas said replacing Oliveri in his department should be a simple matter of posting the job and picking a candidate according to contractual terms because the position is already funded under this year’s budget. He said Oliveri had worked in the Sheriff’s Office for about 16 years. Records show Oliveri was making $31,300 annually.

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Federal Investigation of Schools

Leaves Pittston Area School Board, county Sheriff’s Office

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