Thursday, August 23, 2007

Dead Man Walking

I've been working all day on my print column for tomorrow. It's on the Penn Delco school solicitor situation.
Suffice to say, I think Mark Sereni is finished. After Wednesday night, there is no saving his job.
School board president Dave Seitz told me he hopes Sereni can read the writing on the wall and does the honorable thing. (I called Seitz today and left a message wondering if we were still talking after I blasted him for not standing up to Sereni at July's board meeting. He manned up and called me back. I told him I appreciated it.)
Of course, boardmembers John Green and Kim SanGiorgio support Sereni's ouster, along with Jim Haley and presumably Carol Cannon, who was away on vacation and was not there to vote.
Sereni still has the apparent support of Kim Robinson, Gina Orr, Tony Ruggieri and new boardmember Margaret DiVito, who surprised a lot of people by not only supporting Sereni but going after Kim SanGiorgio for even making the motion.
Whether DiVito voted "no" on the motion because she wanted to know more and collect more facts before replacing Sereni or there was some other reason, is hard to say.
I have been told by people I trust that before joining the board DiVito had privately expressed the view that Sereni had to go. Wonder what changed her mind?
In the meantime, a solicitor who doesn't have the public support of a majority of the board members isn't long for his job.

15 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr.Spencer
You should examine your own obsession with this man!

August 23, 2007 at 8:04 PM 
Blogger Spencerblog said...

Don't worry. I have a feeling it's coming to an end soon.

August 23, 2007 at 8:59 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gil,in reference to what Michelle has to say, if not you to expose this fiasco, then who?

August 23, 2007 at 11:25 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hope that Gil keeeps writing until Sereni resigns and more bad apples are revealed! Go Gil!

August 23, 2007 at 11:34 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gil, thanks for doing the right thing, you bringing this to light in the paper has helped us tremendously. Thanks again.

MM

August 24, 2007 at 11:48 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gil, your coverage of this has been outstanding, please keep up the great work! It's really appreciated.

August 24, 2007 at 1:13 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gil, thanks to you, Loretta Rodgers and the Daily Times for providing such excellent coverage of this story! Some of us have been waiting a long time for the truth to be told!
--a Penn-Delco survivor

August 24, 2007 at 3:16 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Once Sereni is fired he should be qualified for Judge. The Republican party can then appoint another of its cronies to this position.

August 24, 2007 at 3:23 PM 
Blogger Spencerblog said...

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

August 24, 2007 at 3:57 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You have to wonder if the other school boards he represents are starting to wonder. I'm sure they may not come right out and say it....but i bet their not too happy right now.

August 25, 2007 at 12:36 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm sure Sereni isn't going to be the only one removed!. As this investigation continues I'm sure others will be involved. And with the remark from Sereni intimidating the board with "I have something on everyone"... sounds like the only way to get rid of this problem is to throw em all out!

August 25, 2007 at 9:23 AM 
Blogger Spencerblog said...

It wasn't Sereni who said, "I have something on everyone." It was former board president Keith Crego.

August 25, 2007 at 7:10 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Gil:

Have you gotten his billing records from Marple or Springfield?

August 26, 2007 at 7:39 AM 
Blogger Spencerblog said...

All in good time.

August 26, 2007 at 7:59 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It just seems that Sereni is targeting someone (John Steffy) who it was not exactly a secret that Penn Delco's former Superintendent, Leslye Abrutyn, didn't like. Why would Sereni wait until after she had resigned to compel--since he seems to be the physical embodiment of truth and justice--the school board to hire an independent counsel to help keep "corruption" out of the district? Corruption is something Sereni said he can't stand in "any organization." Why did he wait so long to stand up and ask for that corruption to stop? He's not a "referee," right? He only advises the board, so why would he feel the need to ask his clients to join him in his newly established crusade to clean house around Penn Delco? If I were a PR advisor to this solicitor I would ask him to consider allowing the school board to request agenda items for the district; he's simply overstepping the role he's so cautiously held for the past 17 years. No one's trying to defame the man (except he seems to have a sneaking suspicion one of them might be from Utah...). Dave Seitz and other current board members have a very difficult decision to make. When Sereni publicly states that the board needn't wait to end his contract, some might consider whether or not he's got a back-up plan in mind. This is America, the birthplace of Truth and Justice, right? It's a place where we can anonymously vote without fear of intimidation, but a certain board member (Tony Ruggieri) would like to telephone each of the signers of the petition for Sereni's resignation and find out why they signed it. A personal opinion is just that: personal. There is no need to explain all the reasons why each individual chose to sign this petition. The "Right to Know" officer (never heard that one out of your mouth Tony) isn't the board president. The current board president is Dave Seitz, and he can decide when to ask for a petition in a meeting. Certain anonymous individuals on GoAston.com, although perhaps a little rude and off-base in labeling Sereni in such ways, are not the cause of Sereni's current unpopularity. I would argue that he has done that to himself with his inability to drop certain frivolous and litigious measures that seem to have little to do with to protecting Penn Delco.

August 26, 2007 at 1:20 PM 

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