First Posted: 4/8/2012
SCRANTON – Students at the city’s two high schools will be required to wear uniforms next year, but a motion approved Monday, April 2 by an 8-1 vote does not clarify what the policy will consist of.
Monday’s motion calls for Superintendent William King “to convene a committee of pertinent stakeholders to develop a uniform policy.”
One teacher who addressed the board Monday said uniforms were far from the root of the problem.
“We are very frustrated with the incredible defiance we are met with routinely, being cursed at for simple requests like, ‘Please take out the earphones,’ or ‘Put away the hoodie,'” Scranton High School teacher Rachel Mercuri said.
Mercuri said her discipline slips this year for disruptive and defiant actions were equal to those for dress code violations.
“Honestly, I’d rather have a kid in my classroom who’s wearing a hoodie who is quiet and doing his work than one in dress code that, every direction I give is met with an argument or a curse. This is the daily reality we deal with, and nothing is happening.”
“The uniform policy is going to be part of the remedy,” Lesh said. “We have a resolution tonight to start that process…. Tonight is just the beginning.”
Board Vice President Nathan Barrett said directors chose to begin a discipline committee at an education committee meeting held March 29. The committee will “involve the teachers’ union, administration, and the board members… We are going to have a district-wide policy that is going to be in place, and we are going to vote on that policy (in May.)”
Director Kathleen McGuigan voted against the motion, saying, “It’s just senseless to pass a policy saying we’re going to develop one.”
The board also appointed Armand Martinelli, 81, a former district teacher, athletic director for West Scranton High School, and board member including two years as president, to the seat left vacant by Brian Jeffers’ resignation last month. McGuigan was the only dissenter in the 7-1 vote.
Martinelli was one of 14 people who applied for the vacancy and one of seven – including Dan LaMagna, James Freethy, Tom Borthwick, James Timlin, Joe Matyjevich, and Sarene Stoker O’Malley – who addressed the board on Monday.
The board did not publicly debate the nomination after receiving resumes by March 23, and Martinelli was immediately sworn in and joined the board in voting on the remainder of its motions on Monday.
In other business, Sandra Brady, a member of the Scranton High School PTA, presented plans for an “athletic pass” to the board which can be purchased by students for admission to any sports event to help bolster school spirit. Students can raise funds with the new program, she added.
Fundraising, according to Brady, was negatively impacted recently when volunteers were “thrown out” of the building during a pretzel sale.
“By not being able to do this anymore, I think we’ve really taken away from our children,” Brady said of the fundraisers.
Superintendent William King said the food-based fundraisers are a violation of the district’s food contract with Aramark if they are held during school hours, and Assistant Business Manager William Gaynord said foods that go against the school’s wellness policy could result in citations against the district.
“There’s no way these children can be any kind of competition to a company that is in every one of our schools,” Brady responded.
The Scranton School Board approved the following motions at their board meeting on Monday, April 2:
• Recognizing West Scranton High School senior wrestler Tom Hendry for 109 career wins, including appearances in the PIAA state tournament.
• Recognizing the Scranton High School boys’ basketball team for a 19-5 record that included its second straight Lackawanna League Division I championship.
• Recognizing cast members of the WSHS production of “Grease” for earning the Peter J. Doyle Memorial Scholastic Award for their participation in the 2012 St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
• A contract with West Scranton Little League for $12,500 for the use of Battaglia-Cawley, Sloan, and Lackawanna fields.
• Two properties on South Washington Avenue purchased for a total of $7,502 by C & E Investors following the county’s judicial tax sale. Atty. Jason Shrive abstained from the vote.
• A Career and College Readiness course scheduled to begin in the 2012-13 school year.
• The termination of West Scranton Intermediate School paraprofessional Lynn Higgins, effective April 2.
• Resignations of 17 administrators, professionals, paraprofessionals, and non-certified employees representing nearly 397 years of service including Whittier Principal Ann McDonough (35 years) and Director of Elementary Education Lou Paris (16 years).
• Proposals by Peters Design Group, district engineers, for $51,950 for repairs to the air conditioning unit in the WSHS cafeteria; $590,760 for repairs to the WSIS gymnasium floor; and $111,773.84 for a step replacement project at McNichols Plaza elementary.
• A $1,707,257.47 contract with Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit #19 for special education services for 2012-13.
• A new Advanced Placement Environmental Science Course open to juniors and seniors who have completed biology and chemistry.
