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H.S. Softball: Holy Redeemer rallies in ninth to win District 2 Class 2A title

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Letter to the Editor: Job losses mount under status quo; vote for new approach in November

<p>Just call it the Pittston Area School (over)Board. That&#8217;s clearly where board members went May 17 when they voted to terminate &#8220;employee number 41166.&#8221; </p><p>In keeping with the old advice to start by saying something nice, Pittston Area&#8217;s school directors deserve praise for posting meeting agendas online <em>before</em> each meeting. Giving the public a chance to see what issues are up for discussion before they arrive at the district&#8217;s meetings &#8211; or even to decide if they want to attend &#8211; is a no-brainer, especially in this era when you can connect your smart phone to your refrigerator.</p><p>But back to that unidentified employee.</p><p>School directors told a Times Leader correspondent the name was not on the agenda because it was a &#8220;personnel matter.&#8221; Solicitor Sam Falcone and board President Kent Bratlee rejected the notion that omitting the name violated the state Sunshine Law.</p><p>Contacted later, Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association media law counsel Melissa Melewski politely disagreed. &#8220;If the public doesn&#8217;t know who the teacher is, they can&#8217;t have a meaningful discussion&#8221; on the matter, she pointed out, and the law grants the public the right to comment on such actions before the vote. Indeed, the law <em>requires</em> an opportunity for public comment.</p><p>The law also is pretty clear that hiring and firing of a public employee is &#8211; no great surprise &#8211; public.</p><p>On the simplest level, refusing to identify employee 41166 prior to the termination vote made it impossible for anyone in the audience to come to the defense of said employee, or to praise the board for taking the action. Clearly, no one was likely to step to the microphone to say, &#8220;My life was changed through the work of employee 41166.&#8221; </p><p>The decision to use a number instead of a name in the agenda was made almost farcical by the fact that the teacher&#8217;s name already had been reported in the news media: Colleen McGarry, under scrutiny for an alleged inappropriate relationship with a student.</p><p>The board had hired an outside attorney two months earlier to investigate the case, creating an added taxpayer cost, which made refusing to reveal the name a double slap in the face to those who not only paid McGarry&#8217;s salary, but also paid for the attorney.</p><p>It&#8217;s all but impossible to find an argument that justifies the secrecy.</p><p>True, the vote could have failed, in which case the board could have argued revealing the name would have brought undue shame to 41166. But that doesn&#8217;t address the underlying right of the public to comment, and, realistically, teacher terminations don&#8217;t get on an agenda unless the votes already are assured.</p><p>Yes, it&#8217;s true a Wilkes-Barre Area School Board majority recently voted to suspend four programs that will furlough nearly 40 as-yet-unnamed employees. But that&#8217;s because seniority and certifications make it possible for teachers in those programs to remain employed, while others outside the programs get laid off.</p><p>The Pittston Area School Board must firmly assure such undue secrecy will not recur, or &#8211; as the saying goes &#8211; voters should &#8220;86&#8221; all board members, numbered 1 through 9.</p><style>
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Our Opinion: Public wrongly left in dark when Pittston Area terminates ‘nameless’ school employee