Jim O'Meara for Wilkes-Barre Area School Board

As predicted there will be many people running for School Board this time. The first to announce is my pal Jim O'Meara. Expect many more.


From the inbox:

My name is James O’Meara Sr. and I am running for Wilkes-Barre Area School Director.

 

I am a 1975 graduate of Wyoming Area. I’ve lived in Plains Township since 1984. I attended Penn State as an undergraduate. I also attended College Misericordia (now Misericordia University) during the early years of my marriage. In each case I left college to work full-time. I have a lot of credits, but no sheepskin. Both of my children attended Wilkes-Barre Area schools and both graduated from James M. Coughlin High School.

 

Over the years, I advanced in my careers through hard work and my own initiative. I haven't been afraid to take chances. I currently work in retail sales and run a small business. I also have sixteen years of information services experience (including management) under my belt. Like many other Americans in these uncertain times, I have experienced the challenges of joblessness. I know what it is like to face the cruel economic uncertainty that comes with the loss of a job.

 

I am deaf, but my hearing was restored with bilateral cochlear implants. The first thing I did after getting my hearing back was run for office. I relished the chance to once again talk with …and especially listen to …thousands of people in a door-to-door campaign for state representative. As a candidate for school director, I will campaign the same way. I will listen to what you have to say. And I will take your message with me to every school board meeting.

 

So why am I running?

 

I have one young grandchild, and another is due any day now. I worry about the quality of education they will receive in the years ahead. I am concerned that the education of our children and grandchildren is being compromised in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District.

 

The Pennsylvania state constitution mandates in Article II, Section 14 that, “The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education.”

 

I believe the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board has a long way to go in meeting this constitutional mandate.

 

The Citizens’ Voice reported in June, 2012 that Wilkes-Barre Area “…is the only school district in the entire seven-county region that failed to meet the state average in any of the 20 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests or the SAT for the 2010-2011 school year.” From where I sit the district gets a failing grade for delivering a thorough system of public education.

 

As to the efficiency mandated by our state constitution, the failures there border on the spectacular.

 

Just days ago, the Citizens’ Voice reported that Wilkes-Barre Area’s billing requirements were so derelict that a forensic audit couldn’t resolve whether the former solicitor overbilled for more than half a decade. In other words, it was impossible for the auditor to figure out whether the district was robbed, careless or both.

 

Last November, the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader lambasted five members of the board for “…refusing to recognize and prohibit the destructive influence of nepotism on a public institution.” In recent news, one board member is voting from half a world away.

 

This is a school board badly in need of a shake-up.

 

It’s time for some common sense leadership. It’s time for voters to send a clear message that politics as usual in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District must end.

 

I look forward to delivering this message personally in November, and I ask for your support.

 

Thank you, and together let’s make a difference!

 

James O’Meara, Sr.

Jim has previously run for State Rep and Plains Township Commissioner.He was the campaign manager for Laureen Cummings Congressional bid.