By: Todd Bartley, TalkWilliamsport.com
News@TalkWilliamsport.com
The Williamsport Area School District Board of Directors will hold a regularly scheduled meeting tonight beginning at 6 p.m.
The meeting is being held virtually; in order to attend the Tuesday, February 16, 2021, school board meeting, register by clicking here.
Listed on the agenda this evening are a number of spring sports coaches agreements and stipends.
From, “the Williamsport Area School District February 16, 2021 Agenda – Page 5
8.3*ELECTION OF STAFF CONT’D:
F.The following spring sport coaches at the respective schools for the 2020-2021 school year at the salary rate in accordance with the agreement by and between the Board of School Directors of the Williamsport Area School District and the Williamsport Education Association (pending completion of all appropriate paperwork*)
Payment of stipends for these positions may be modified or withheld in the event that the activities for which stipends are being paid are curtailed or do not occur due to the COVID-19 pandemic or other conditions beyond the District’s control:
Williamsport Area High School Baseball
Head Coach: Kyle S. Schneider (4) $5,320
Varsity Assistant: Tariq C. Moore (5) $2,800
Varsity Assistant: Gregorey P. Robertson (5) $2,800
Varsity Assistant:Patrick G. Vollman (2) ++$2,380 [++Booster Funded Position]
Volunteer: Joel A. Worthington —
Volunteer: Jeremy E. Reidy —
Schneider, Moore and Worthington were identified by Wanda Erb on behalf of the WASD as coaches being on the staff and in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in March 2018.
As referenced in “A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART I“
“According to documentation obtained from the Williamsport Area School District through a Right to Know Law Request, the only adult supervisors that had provided clearances and passed background checks were;
District states: here is the list of district employees, coaches, and volunteers who either accompanied the team to Myrtle Beach or were present as parents.
Numbers 1-6 were coaches or volunteer coaches.
Number 7 was a volunteer statistician.
Numbers 8-9 are district employees who also had children on the team.
- Ryan Miller (Head Baseball Coach)
- David Heller
- Tariq Moore
- Kyle Schneider
- Nick Caringi
- Joel Worthington
- Randy Zangara
- Brandon Pardoe (WAHS Head High School Principal)
- Sean McCann (WAHS Athletic Director)”
Referring back to; “the Williamsport Area School District February 16, 2021 Agenda – Page 5:
8.3*ELECTION OF STAFF CONT’D:
Softball coaches, Volunteer: Drew E. Dickey —
Talkwilliamsport.com previously filed a Right to Know request with the East Lycoming School District requesting the “room assignment” email sent to Drew Dickey on his @ELSD.org account.
Heather Burke, Business Manager/Board Secretary and Right to Know Officer for the East Lycoming School District provided the following response on October 29, 2020;
“Our Technology Director searched our current and archived email database for the email you requested, was not able to retrieve/find any emails with that subject.”
So how was an email which is provably and documented as sent; not be on a school email server?
The same email sent to Drew Dickey was copied to Rae Ann Pardoe, WAHS head principal, Brandon Pardoe, WAHS athletic director, Sean McCann and then WAHS head baseball coach Ryan Miller.
To date, Rae Anne Pardoe has been the only person to produce said email through the PA Right to Know Law as referenced in “A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XXIII.”
OH THE IRONY!
According to the RTKL response provided to Talkwilliamsport.com on Monday, November, 9, 2020 by Dr. Mark Stamm, Superintendent of Schools for the South Williamsport Area School District, Rae Ann Pardoe received the “room assignments” e-mail on March 18, 2018.
The documents were obtained through the RTKL due to the fact Rae Ann Pardoe was using her @swasd.org e-mail account.
The e-mails obtained are heavily redacted, with the exclusion of her e-mail and that of former head baseball coach Ryan Miller, who was not the sender.
The sender was Shelly Gehr.
Shelly Gehr is the sister of current South Williamsport Area School District board member Cathy Springman Bachman.
When contacted for this story to discuss the e-mail she authored and sent, Shelly Gehr promptly hung up the phone.
WANDA ERB WHEN ASKED FOR A ROOM LIST “NO RECORD EXISTS” – FROM PART I
NO ROOM LIST AND NO CHAPERONES
As part of the Appeal from RTKL Denial of Williamsport Area School District undertaken by Talk Williamsport filed with the OOR on August 8, 2019, the WASD under the penalty of perjury offered the following answers from Wanda Erb, in an affidavit on October 8, 2019:
I, Wanda Erb, hereby declare, pursuant to 18 Pa. CS 4904, that the following statements are true and correct based upon my personal knowledge information and belief:
1. I serve as the Open Records Officer for the Williamsport Area School District (“Agency”) and am responsible for responding to Right-to-Know requests field with the Agency.
2. In my capacity as the Open Records Officer, I am familiar with the records of the Agency.
6. Regarding Requestor’s fourth request, all of the chaperones on the trip were district employees, coaches, or volunteer coaches. No other adult chaperones accompanied the baseball team to Myrtle Beach.
WASD again admits in writing no other adult chaperones accompanied the baseball team to Myrtle Beach other than 6 or 7 adults who were district employees, coaches, or volunteer coaches, plus two administrators with players on the team.
WASD RTK Officer, Wanda Erb asserts under the penalty of perjury, “No other adult chaperones accompanied the baseball team to Myrtle Beach.”
Why is the WASD considering having a baseball season; in light of the report of charges being filed in South Carolina against ALLEGED PERPETRATOR #1?
Why is the WASD considering coaching agreements and stipends during an open investigation being conducted by the Office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro into the Myrtle Beach “criminal sexual misconduct” incident?
An interesting bit of irony appears on Page 10 of “the Williamsport Area School District
February 16, 2021 Agenda:
“Community Code For a Healthy and Safe Lycoming County
The Board of School Directors pledged its support on May 19, 1998, to the Community Code proposed by the Lycoming County Health Improvement Coalition, Inc. In accordance with that commitment, those who work, study, or participate in events, including interscholastic sports, within the Williamsport Area School District will:
- Do their best to be role models for courteous behavior.
- Respect all people and their property, treating them like guests or friends.
- Appreciate the efforts of others.
- Have the courage to say NO to drugs, belligerent attitudes and actions, weapons, profane language and gestures, and illegal usages of tobacco products and alcohol.
- Speak and act calmly.
- Encourage and support others.”
Nondiscrimination Policy
The Williamsport Area School District is an equal opportunity education institution and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, and handicap in its activities, programs, or employment practices as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX Education Amendment of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disability Act of 1990.
For more information regarding civil rights, grievance procedures, or services, activities, and facilities that are accessible to and usable by handicapped individuals, contact: Mrs. Anne Logue, Director of Human Resources, Williamsport Area School District, 2780 West Fourth Street, Williamsport, PA 17701, telephone number (570) 327-5500 extension 40210.”
This is a developing story on Talkwilliamsport.com.
