W-B Area mum on charges

WILKES-BARRE – One day after seeing its third member in five months charged with corruption, Wednesday’s Wilkes-Barre Area School Board meeting was marked by the conspicuous absence of board President Frank Pizzella – indicted by a grand jury Tuesday – and the absence of any discussion of the scandal.

Despite a crowd of about 20, including seven who spoke to the board, no one said a word about Pizzella’s indictment during the meeting. Afterward, Superintendent Jeff Namey said he did have a brief conversation with Pizzella on Tuesday evening, after the indictment was handed down, but that Pizzella did not mention whether he intends to stay on the board or resign.

There is already one chronically empty seat at meetings. Board member Brian Dunn was the first to be charged in April and has neither resigned nor attended a meeting since.

After the meeting, board member Mike McGinley, who had taken the gavel in lieu of Pizzella, said the board will try to move on and do the work it was elected to do, and that he expects to be able to muster a quorum in future meetings despite missing three members.

McGinley said he has not heard from Pizzella, and that he did not know any details of the corruption charges other than what has been revealed by U.S. attorneys in Scranton.

Pizzella has been charged with participating in a conspiracy that ultimately led to a board member in 2004 receiving $5,000 in exchange for support for someone seeking a full-time district teaching job.

Federal authorities claim Pizzella told the teaching candidate the job could be had if the payment was made, then took the money from the candidate’s father-in-law and delivered it to the board member.

Only Pizzella was named in the indictment. He was not on the board at the time, having failed in an election run in 2003. He was elected in 2007.

According to the indictment, the alleged conspiracy took place between Jan 2, 2004 and Dec. 31, 2004, and the candidate was ultimately hired full time. The Times Leader archives show at least 34 teachers were hired that year.

State records show that another 22 were hired around that time, but those records don’t list the specific hiring date, giving instead the number of years a person has been working in the district.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the board opted to ignore the new charges, and the audience was willing to comply. Of seven people who stood up to address the board, none asked about the charges.

All but one raised questions about the new dress code implemented this school year. Parents and students questioned the elimination of popular events such as “spirit week” and “Sadie Hawkins Day,” which allowed more outlandish costumes each year, as well as uneven enforcement of the new code and the logic of banning striped shirts that otherwise would be neat and in compliance with the code.

Most who spoke were supportive of the code but wanted changes, though one parent grew visibly angry, accusing the board members of being hypocrites who are violating the law with the new rules. Contending he makes $277 a week, he said he had to borrow money to buy “your stupid uniforms.”

McGinley and Namey repeated prior statements that the dress code is a work in progress and adjustments of the rules could still come. The board then quickly went through a string of business, much of it approval of specialized contracted education services the district does not provide in house.

The board did approve several appointments: Sharon Burcicki Frey, from elementary teacher to elementary math coordinator; Mathew Klem and Joan Pastorelli, full-time teacher; Stephanie Frank and Brooke Burden, half-time substitutes; Genelle Hoban and Robert Hess, full-time substitute; Mitchell Marcks, half-time teacher; Rena Sowden, part-time substitute English as second language teacher pending receipt of certification; Frank Corry Hanson, junior high athletic director at Meyers High School; and Meaghan Rivet as swim aide at Kistler elementary.

The board also approved a tax break for about 8.5 acres in two separate tracts in the East Mountain Corporate Center. The break is granted through the state Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program. Municipalities typically forego collection of taxes on improvements, but still collect taxes on the land itself.

Board member Christine Katsock voted against the tax break, citing the tough economy and the ongoing corruption probe.