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PLAINS TWP. — The Joint Operating Committee that runs the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical center voted to make Anthony Guariglia the school’s new administrative director, with four members voting no. The JOC also approved a $6.6 million dollar budget that member Bill Jones said effectively eliminates Guariglia’s current position.
Guariglia came to the Wilkes-Barre Area CTC from the West Side CTC, where he worked for 14 years and had become principal before leaving. The move raised some eyebrows because, at the time, Guariglia was on the Pittston Area School Board and had served as that board’s representative on the Wilkes-Barre Area CTC.
Both CTCs serve multiple districts, and each is run by a JOC comprised of representatives from the school boards of those districts.
In September 2011, Guariglia resigned as Pittston Area representative on the Wilkes-Barre Area JOC. Two months later, the same JOC hired Guariglia as the center’s assistant principal at a salary of $82,000.
In March 2014, the JOC evoked criticism by then-member Gene Mancini, who represented Crestwood School District, when members approved an agreement with all administrators that included a $4,000 additional raise to “any employee” with a Ph.D. or Doctor of Education. Mancini pointed out that the clause only covered Guariglia, who had attained the advanced degree prior to negotiations for the agreement.
The center has not had an administrative director since Peter Halesey asked for and received paid leave in October 2014. Principal Frank Majikes assumed the duties and was eventually named acting administrative director, with Guariglia getting the title of acting assistant administrative director.
Guariglia has been praised by some JOC members for modernizing CTC programs. Most notably, he spearheaded a move that dropped a fashion program that had dwindled to four students and had been losing money, and replaced it with a Child Care Center that opened in September 2015.
At the special meeting Thursday, the JOC gave him the administrative director title, with four no votes, all by representative from Wilkes-Barre Area School Board: Denise Thomas, Ned Evans, James Susek and Shawn Walker. Walker said he voted against the appointment because of “the whole process” in selecting Guariglia.
The budget approved by the JOC was a revision of an earlier proposal that would have spent $6.9 million, up 4.9 percent from this year. The revised budget does not replace a secretary and an administrator.
