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Christine Menichini challenged the employment of a woman without her certification.


PLAINS TWP. &ndash; State records back up claims by a woman who said she was certified for a job given to an uncertified applicant at Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center. But the center&rsquo;s administrative director said it&rsquo;s a complicated issue and the hiring was legitimate.
When the Joint Operating Committee that runs the center voted last week to hire Michelle Egidio-Oko as a cosmetology instructor, Christine Menichini told the board she had applied and had proper state certification that Egidio-Oko lacked. She asked how the JOC could hire someone who would need emergency certification when the state school code generally only grants that option when no certified person is available.
The committee went into executive session and emerged to insist the hiring was legal.
The state Department of Education confirmed Menichini&rsquo;s contention regarding certifications. Spokesman Timothy Eller said Menichini has &ldquo;Vocational Instructional Level I in Cosmetology&rdquo; certification, effective Feb. 2, 2006, while there is no record of state certifications for Egidio-Oko.
Asked about the discrepancy, Administrative Director Peter Halesey said Egidio-Oko is licensed in cosmetology by the state and is qualified to teach. He said she does not have a Vocational Instructional Level I certification, but she can teach while doing the college work needed to get one.
Cosmetology licenses are issued by the Department of State, not the Department of Education, which is why the latter had no record of certifications for Egidio-Oko. The Department of Education issues two teaching certifications: Level I, which is temporary and cannot be renewed, and Level II, which is permanent. To advance from Level I to Level II, a teacher must take a state-specified number of additional college courses within a set number of years. Otherwise, the Level I certification lapses. 
Halesey said it is common for teachers at a career and technology center to land a teaching job before earning their Level I and II certifications. He said qualified people with years of experience in a specific field may decide to teach but can&rsquo;t afford to quit work and go back to school. They are allowed to teach while earning the teaching certificate because they already have on-the-job training.
Those planning to teach academic subjects, on the other hand, typically get a degree in education and earn their teaching certificate essentially as a single process, then look for a teaching job.
Halesey said he has applied for emergency certification for Egidio-Oko, even though the state had already given a green light to her getting the job. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have to,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just covering all the bases.&rdquo;

Area Tech School Explains Disputed Hiring