Pittston Dispatch // PD Columnists // Ed Ackerman - Optimist

Sunday April 19, 2009 | 01:00 AM

In my near 40-year career at the Sunday Dispatch I’ve had literally hundreds of dealings with Ross Scarantino. Every single one involved the promotion of Pittston Area School District and its students.

One that often comes to mind is the award-winning “PAC Reader” program Ross masterminded when he was district elementary principal. The basic premise of having fifth and sixth grade students read to first graders caught the attention of educators across the state and nation.

At an evening celebration honoring the students involved in the program, Jim Trelease, author of “The Read Aloud Handbook,” delivered the principal address. That was more than 20 years ago. I know this because my children were little at the time and I adopted what I learned from Trelease in my parenting of them.

Another took place a few years ago when Ross sought publicity for a new playground at the Pittston Area Elementary Center. It was to be constructed by the Colleen Shea Foundation, a group supporting children in memory of their friend and colleague Colleen Shea who was killed in a car accident.

The Colleen Shea Memorial Playground is located today on land Colleen played on as a young girl. Ross was the catalyst in making this happen.

And just a few weeks ago Ross called the Dispatch to pick our brains about a formal dedication of the Bucky Harris Sports Complex in Hughestown.

Bucky Harris, who as a young man played baseball on the very site where Pittston Area teams now play, is a member of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. When Ross heard that Jack Smiles, Dispatch associate editor, is writing a book about Harris and could probably get Bucky’s son, a retired judge, here for the dedication, he was elated. It would lend a sense of first-classness to the event, and Ross always loved going first class.

These are merely a few examples of why I’ve always admired Ross Scarantino as an educator. He always struck me as wise, innovative and dedicated to his profession and to his school district. But his real skill – the one thing that made him highly successful in my estimation – was his political savvy. Ross was always a brilliant politician.

Should a school district superintendent be a brilliant politician? Not in an ideal world. But around here?

Let me tell you a story about a former Luzerne County Community College president, a guy named Jon Larson. I spent a lot of time with Jon Larson and every time I heard him pronounce “There’ll be no politics at the community college,” I cringed. The words I loved, but there was a reality Jon Larson did not grasp.

Hearing him say that over and over sounded to me like a pro basketball coach saying, “When we play the Chicago Bulls, we’re going to hold Michael Jordan scoreless.”

Oh, really?

How about: “We know Jordan is going to score 40, but in spite of that we’re going to figure out a way to win?”

Jon Larson thought he could hold Jordan scoreless. He was gone in two years.

Ross Scarantino knew better. He let Jordan have his 40. And Pittston Area won.

So, of course, did Ross.

Ross liked winning. He grew up a winner. In high school, he was a three-sport star: quarterback of the football team, point guard in basketball, starting second baseman in baseball. And since politics too is a game, Ross was a natural.

He figured out early on that the game of politics involves giving to get. Master that and you’ll go far. Ross did.

In a school district there are basically two things to give: jobs and contracts.

And what is there to get? Well, for one, Ross was able to get his own way. He liked that, a lot. But it always seemed “his own way” involved something for the district, for the students. Can’t argue with that.

Then, there’s the power. Ross liked that, too. What quarterback doesn’t? But, again, if the winner is the school district, where’s the harm?

Well, all too often the harm is in the giving. No one can tell me Ross Scarantino didn’t have to hold his nose once in a while as he gave to get. He’s too smart for it to have been otherwise. But clearly the end, to Ross, justified the means.

Now, the FBI is saying that the end was not the school district and the students at all. The end was Ross Scarantino’s pockets. The FBI is saying Ross accepted “thousands of dollars in cash … in connection with the awarding of contracts.”

I don’t want this to be true.

If it is, I for one will feel very surprised.

And very na�ve.

But mostly, I will feel very, very sad.