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Our View: It’s finally time to lock her up, and she deserves it

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Wilkes-Barre zoning board OKs plan to renovate Empire Silk Mill into apartments

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212;Who is the newest member of the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board, and where does he stand on high school consolidation?</p><p>A lifelong resident of South Wilkes-Barre and a Meyers High School grad, Mark Atherton is the son of legendary basketball coach James T. Atherton, so successful at Luzerne County Community College they named the gym after him. Mark is married to Sandra Atherton, a 27-year employee at Wilkes-Barre Area, and brother of James Atherton, a former Wilkes-Barre Area School Board member and current guidance counselor at the district&#8217;s Solomon/Plains Junior High School.</p><p>That last connection also makes Mark Atherton the brother-in-law to James&#8217; wife Nancy, a teacher at Kistler Elementary who has worked for Wilkes-Barre Area for 26 years, according to state records.</p><p>The man set to be sworn in Dec. 4 said he opposed consolidation when it was first proposed, having a strong desire to see his alma mater survive and to retain the three high school system. But as the process evolved, so did his opinion.</p><p>&#8220;After listening, and after seeing a district try to move forward, how are these three schools going to be able to survive?&#8221; he said. &#8220;The question is are three high schools sustainable?&#8221;</p><p>But he also wants to make sure Meyers doesn&#8217;t fall into decay and disarray, a matter that hits home since he lives in South Wilkes-Barre. &#8220;What happens there is very important to me, but I also understand you have to be a school director for the whole district.&#8221;</p><p>A teacher and successful basketball coach in his own right at Crestwood School District, Mark Atherton is a public school educator replacing another retired public school educator, Dino Galella, who resigned from the board in October. Galella wanted to move out of the area and be closer to his grandchildren.</p><p>Atherton acknowledges critics will complain about too many educators in charge of a school district. &#8220;I get that. But I think it gives me a lot of insight.&#8221;</p><p>His appointment, by a 6-2 vote at a special meeting Tuesday, means that a majority of the board &#8212; five members &#8212; are either current or former public school employees. Other retired Wilkes-Barre Area educators on the board are President Joseph Caffrey, Ned Evans, John Quinn and James Geiger, while Denise Thomas stepped down as a district attendance officer when she won a seat on the board in 2013.</p><p>While state law does not allow a teacher to work in a district <em>and</em> sit on that district&#8217;s school board, there is no rule against running for, and serving on, a school board for another district as long as you live there. It has happened locally.</p><p>Nor is their any law barring a person with relatives working in a district from serving on that district&#8217;s school board. That has been common in Luzerne County and Wilkes-Barre Area School District. However, a board member cannot vote for a motion that directly benefits an immediate family member, which often leads to abstention on certain votes.</p><p>Wilkes-Barre Area, in fact, was once a constant target of criticism regarding such arrangements, with board members often related to district employees, though in many cases the board members would point out the employees were hired before they were seated on the board &#8212; as will be the case with Atherton.</p><p>He said he knows critics will point to his three relatives employed at Wilkes-Barre Area, but that &#8220;they are all good employees. I&#8217;m proud of them, and I could turn the criticism around and say the insight they give me is invaluable.&#8221; Criticism may be inevitable, he added, but district issues &#8220;are a lot bigger than that.&#8221;</p><p><strong>&#8216;Undemocratic&#8217;</strong></p><p>Atherton has one distinction uncommon for the region: His brother James served on the board from 1999 to 2003 before deciding not to run for re-election and later landing a job with the district. James was part of a team of candidates elected to the board who were found to be missing required receipts from campaign financing reports. None of them were charged in the matter, but then-District Business Manager Ralph Scoda, the team&#8217;s campaign treasurer, was charged and entered the state&#8217;s Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition probation program in 2004.</p><p>Critics have sharply rebuked the board for picking Atherton from the 15 candidates who applied to replace Galella, who&#8217;s term expires in December 2019. Sam Troy called the appointment process a &#8220;farce&#8221; and &#8220;undemocratic,&#8221; contending the board must have discussed the appointment privately, violating state open meeting laws.</p><p>But district Solicitor Ray Wendolowski has pointed out the board was advised it could not legally discuss the appointment in private with a quorum present, though they could talk in small groups of four or fewer. Wendolowski said he had no knowledge of such conversations, but if they were held without a quorum, they would be legal.</p><p>Voters get their say in about five months. If Atherton wants to stay on the board, he must run for election for a full term in the May primary. He said he will seriously consider doing so. &#8220;My gut instinct is to be part of this process, or try to be, if voters want me.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Salaries</strong></p><p>Here are positions, salaries and years in education for the Athertons, according to state records for 2017-18:</p><p>&#8226; Mark Atherton &#8212; Crestwood ninth grade history teacher, discipline monitor and varsity basketball coach, 22 years in education, $87,702 salary</p><p>&#8226; Sandra Atherton (wife) &#8212; Developmental reading elementary teacher, 27 years in education, $84,611 salary</p><p>&#8226; James Atherton (brother) &#8212; Solomon/Plains Junior High School guidance counselor, 14 years in education, $80,294 salary</p><p>&#8226; Nancy Atherton (sister-in-law), Kistler Elementary teacher, 26 years in education, $84,001 salary</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Atherton </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_Atherton-mark.cmyk-1-.jpg</photo0><caption0>Atherton </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Newest WB Area board member has family working in district