Mark Guydish

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Education Reporter

mguydish@timesleader.com

(570) 970-7161

A West Hazleton native, I worked as a service technician repairing electronic mailing and shipping systems, a bike shop owner and an Emergency Medical Technician (among other jobs) before landing a reporter job at the Times Leader Hazleton Bureau in 1995. I started by covering primarily politics in Hazleton City and outlying municipalities, eventually became "social issues" team leader in the Wilkes-Barre office with the accent on education, and headed the Hazleton Bureau for a spell before returning to full-time reporting, my preferred position. I'm an avid cyclist and rode across the country in 1990, a trip of more than 5,000 miles from New Jersey to Seattle and down the coast to San Francisco. Years in the Boy Scouts made me a life long backpacker and camper, and I've yet to find a better way to enjoy the quiet lure of winter snow than cross country skiing.

Mark also writes a regular blog for timesleader.com.

Latest Columns by Mark Guydish

July 1, 2009

Contract fairy makes summer appearance MARK GUYDISH OPINION

Call this our summer of reconciliation. It is as though the contract fairy came to town after years of absence, tapped a bunch of stubborn people on the heads they had been butting, and brought peace to our public schools.

June 29, 2009

At the risk of being called simplistic … MARK GUYDISH OPINION

We took mom to Manhattan on Saturday to see “South Pacific.” Driving out of Gotham we ran into the inevitable gridlock that masses like a clogged drain at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. As we crawled and stalled, I thought “This is great traffic management in action!”

June 27, 2009

Dr. Bau pays it forward with grad speech MARK GUYDISH OPINION

Beach balls periodically bounced off the mortar boards during most of the ceremony. One woman asked, “Who is that lady?” when Superintendent Nancy Tkatch came to the podium. And Silly String started flying shortly after diplomas were doled out. But the highlight of the Northwest Area commencement Thursday – pushed to so late a date by a teacher strike – clearly was Dr. Jennifer Bau, a soft-spoken alum of little public note with a big message for the small school.

June 24, 2009

Hazleton woes may become commonplace MARK GUYDISH OPINION

It’s an epic 12 years in the making, at a cost of millions, with a cast of thousands (of taxpayers). It’s a saga of high rollers gambling on creative financing, of adversity overcome only to discover more adversity. Let’s call it “Law &Order: TVU (Taxpayer Victims Unit)”

June 22, 2009

Wrong reasons for releasing arena contract MARK GUYDISH OPINION

I’d like to praise SMG for quickly deciding to release an unedited copy of its contract for managing the Wachovia Arena. I’d like to laud them for seeing the open-records light, and giving us the full contract the day after I wrote a column critical of the fact that dollar figures had been removed from the first copy we got.

June 20, 2009

A good time to reconnect with the river again MARK GUYDISH OPINION

By sheer scale, the new portals in the Wilkes-Barre levee are barely two peepholes in a wall 42 feet high and miles long. Yet in the grand scheme, they are long-needed reconnections to a long-lost ancestor, a break in a barrier that separated us for seven decades from the reason we are here.

June 17, 2009

Arena officials turn access to info into sport MARK GUYDISH OPINION

If you decide to walk outside you are exposed to the weather, rain or shine. You can’t insist that the rain and snow avoid you because you have some sort of proprietary secrets you don’t want to get wet.

June 15, 2009

Defining the line between civility, chaos MARK GUYDISH OPINION

Saturday’s front page had one of the most compelling local news photos I’ve seen: The widow of State Trooper Joshua Miller bending to kiss his coffin as it seems to dangle in thin air over the abyss of his grave.

June 13, 2009

Boatload of suggestions for yacht names MARK GUYDISH OPINION

With the sad news that Attorney Robert Powell must forfeit his yacht “Reel Justice” as part of his plea agreement in the courthouse corruption scandal, we can now openly ask what has been on many a mind:

June 10, 2009

It’s hard to get right words to portray Powell MARK GUYDISH OPINION

I’ve got a great idea: Let’s give attorney Robert Powell half-a-billion to build a cargo airport in Hazleton. He promises we’ll get the business.

Latest Articles by Mark Guydish

July 2, 2009

Bishop reassigns Scranton Diocese clergy

SCRANTON. – Bishop Joseph Martino has announced extensive reappointments of clergy throughout the diocese, with substantial shuffling in Luzerne County.

July 1, 2009

Lehman, teachers reach deal

LEHMAN TWP. – Around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Lake-Lehman School District earned the dubious distinction of having the longest-running teacher contract dispute in Luzerne County.

June 29, 2009

Lake-Lehman boosts taxes in ’09-’10 budget

LEHMAN TWP. – With three members voting no, one voting by phone and one absent, the Lake-Lehman School Board approved a final budget for the 2009-10 school year that increases taxes about $47 for the average property owner.

June 29, 2009

Crestwood students asked to write ‘Last Lecture’

WRIGHT TWP. – You’re a high school sophomore, you’ve been around less than one-fifth of your expected life span, and you just learned you’re going to die. What would you do?

June 28, 2009

Not your father’s summer school

DALLAS TWP. – Camp tents and card games and toy horses that whinny? These kids may be in rooms full of desks and it may be June, but isn’t there some kind of law that says summer school can’t be fun?

June 26, 2009

Rendell to cut grants to enhance technology

HARRISBURG – In the ongoing state budget battle, Gov. Ed Rendell has agreed to drop all funding for the four-year-old Classrooms for the Future grant program, which pumped nearly $1.2 million into Luzerne County public schools last year to provide training, computers and other high-tech equipment.