William Rouse 
July 13, 1996 
William Raymond Rouse, 54, Of Mesa Oaks Circle, Austin, Texas, Died Saturday 
In Austin.

A Giant Inclination 
Big Brothers-big Sisters Stands To Benefit From Annual Hill Climb

Sunday, July 14, 1996 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1 





From a bottle spills the truth about hiring at Hazleton Area &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 My friend was only joking, but many great ideas get their spark from
humorHe told me he plans to run for the Hazleton Area School Board. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It was a Sunday after a long work week and I didn't relish more talk about
the School Board, so I laughed and took a swig of my beer. He paused for
dramatic effect, taking a long swallow from his beer too, then he added that
he has his political platform all worked out. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He said it would be constructed from a single plank: "Elect me to a
teaching job." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He's certified to teach but, like many other folks in Hazleton, does not
think he has much chance to get hired by the board. He has no political pull,
no deal to offer, nothing to sell but desire. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 And he has listened in amazement to stories about people running for the
board by making secret deals to give friends and relatives jobs -- practicing
nepotism to the max. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 He figures it would be more honest to stump, in public, for a teaching job.
Self-serving? Yep, but at least it would be aboveboard, he said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Isn't that how it sorta works here, anyway?" he asked as he opened the
fridge for another beer. "Look at those guys who got elected and got their
wives jobs. Why beat around the bush about it? Vote for me. If I get on the
board I'll get myself hired as a teacher. I'm running for the high school
English department." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 No, better yet, I said, you could offer to work in the worst school and
offer to give half your salary back to the district for the first year. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 I savored my Pabst as I savored his idea, envisioning the signs on
telephone poles: "Me Me Me for History" and "Sam knows Science" and "Reading,
Writing and Rick." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 My friend continued explaining his alcohol-induced plan, but I was off on
my own mental tangent: Maybe he could include an offer to work for free for a
year. I created bumper stickers in my mind: "Will teach for free lunch.' &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 I imagined him at the mall sporting a sandwich board saying "Will teach for
food." I nearly spit out my beer, but he didn't notice. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The next day, in the cold light of sobriety, his idea seemed wacky but
intriguing, certainly more fair to the taxpayers than the way things have been
going. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 By now, the story of how the board's president helped both his wife and his
friend's wife get teaching jobs within six months is already old news. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The fresher scuttlebutt centers on deals that board members and other
school officials are allegedly making to get other friends and relatives hired
to about two dozen teaching jobs that have opened due to teacher retirements. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The school district refuses to name applicants being considered for
specific teaching jobs. Applicants have the right to keep job searches secret,
the district says. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In other words, the district believes that employed people might get flak
if their employers find out they are seeking teaching jobs. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Gee, and my beer gets warm if I don't drink fast enough too. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Let's give the teaching jobs to those who are brave enough to campaign for
them in public, instead of in barrooms and on golf courses and in backyard
swimming pools. Let's have debates and rallies and applicants telling us why
they should be hired. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Let's start the campaign now because a darker, more mysterious and
un-Democratic one has already begun. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 As for my friend, well, being new to the area, he doesn't seriously believe
he has any chance to work in the district. But he sees those teaching jobs
dangling out there, and he's been talking a lot about the starting annual
salary of $29,000, summers off, the nice fringe benefits. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But he also knows the dream is out of his reach. That's part of the reason
he drinks. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

From A Bottle Spills The Truth About Hiring At Hazleton Area My Friend Was Only Joking, But Many Great Ideas Get Their Spark From Humor.