Federal Investigation of Schools

April 23, 2009

Wyoming Area super says he’s not quitting

JANINE UNGVARSKY Times Leader Correspondent

EXETER – Rumors were squashed, hiring practices were questioned and a K-9 unit search was praised at Tuesday’s Wyoming Area School Board meeting.

Superintendent Ray Bernardi ended his report to the board by stating emphatically that rumors he would be resigning soon are untrue.

“I like this job,” Bernardi said, “and I’m disheartened and disappointed that someone would start a rumor like that. … I have no intention of resigning.”

“He has no reason to resign,” Solicitor Ray Hassey said. “The FBI hasn’t been here, no investigative agency has been here, and nobody has been interviewed by anyone other than (the media).”

Bernardi was equally emphatic a short time later when he defended the district’s hiring policy after a board member asked that it be changed. Estelle Campenni said she was pleased with the detailed rubric used during candidate interviews but asked that the actual results of that rubric be provided to the board.

Campenni’s motion that the board be provided with the individual scores of each interviewer for each candidate failed for lack of a second. Audience members pressed for more information, with several citing concerns about hiring at other districts as a reason for increased transparency. Bernardi said the results are compiled into overall ratings and the board decides based on that rating.

In other business, chairman of the school’s police department John Marianacci praised the K-9 search conducted at the Secondary Center April 21. Through the cooperation of Luzerne County Correctional Facility Warden Joseph Piazza, K-9 Lt. Joe Petravich and four dogs and handlers from the prison K-9 unit, a surprise search of school lockers was conducted. No contraband was found.

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