8 The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, November 15, 2000 Pipeline (continued from page 1) control center staffed 24 hours a day for maximum accident control. “They're admitting they're negligent by changing all the pipes in the pumping station,” Evans said. Even though Sun agrees that property values have suffered as a result of spill contamination, the latest analysis of the area indicated that the spill was more contained than origi- nally estimated. “They (Sun) think it is possible for the water to be cleaned up,” said Evans. However, Sun wouldn't give an estimate as to how long that might take to be completed. A full report by Zwiebel and Evans will be presented at the December supervisors’ meeting. Reduced property values may have an effect on township taxes. “To my knowl- edge, the properties that were purchased haven't had the taxes paid on them,” said John Filip. Evans said he will look into the matter. Evans has completed the brief on be- half of the township regarding American Asphalt mining operations in an agricul- tural zone. After some editing, he expects it to go to Judge Cappellini’s office by Thursday or Friday of this week. Paramedics (continued from page 1) forehand. An ambulance company can have billing agreements with several dif- ferent paramedic services at the same time; the order in which they are called is a matter of protocol. Each ambulance company will have the same agreement with Northeast. At present some of the companies are still looking their copies over, so the others are waiting until everyone is in accord and any changes, if necessary, have been made to the agreements. Northeast Paramedics has been ready- ing itself in the meantime by working on getting the required licensing for their ALS units, obtaining the necessary equip- ment, and having everything inspected and certified. When the paramedics are ready to step in and the billing agreements have been signed, the ambulance companies must contact Luzerne County to change the dispatch protocols — to notify the county which paramedic services they want to be contacted first, second, and so on when needed. Northeast Paramedics will be first on call for Back Mountain ambu- lance companies, and some companies will choose Trans-Med for second due (next in line to be called if the primary paramedic service is unavailable of if additional units are needed). Decking out Dallas Volunteers from the Dallas Lions Club trimmed the Dallas tree recently. In photo below, Joe Boris and Tom Begley adjusted some lights. At right, Frank Rollman, left, and Walter Roberts steadied the sign while John Corbett POST PHOTOS/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK attached it. Substitutes (continued from page 1) “They're not going to come to work for $65 a day and no benefits,” Roberts said. He and Speziale agree it's a competitive market, and often substitutes will wait for better offers from school districts which pay more. Local school districts are currently raising pay rates for substitutes; accord- ing to Roberts, Lake-Lehman is currently paying subs $60/day, but after Novem- ber 15 will pay them $65 per day for up to 20 days, and $75 per day after that. Dallas pays $60 for the first 30 days, then $65, but regardless, there simply aren't enough to go around. Dr. Speziale said, “You can throw a lot of money at this, but if there's no people, there's no people.” According to Roberts, some school dis- tricts , such as Berwick, are turning to temporary employment agencies. The agencies contract with substitutes, and the school district in turn contracts with the agency, a more expensive option. Roberts said there are a number of ways school districts can cope with the shortage. One of them is to start using the temporary agencies. Another is to allow substitute teachers to participate in teacher inservices in exchange for a guarantee of a certain number of days’ service as subs. These inservices are essentially days when the teachers are themselves taught; it's a Commonwealth requirement under Act 48 for teachers to take six college credits or 180 hours of instruction every five years in order to maintain their teaching certification. The third way to deal with the substitute shortage is emergency certification. Emergency certification is based on experience; it requires a bachelor’s de- gree and professional experience in the field the substitute will be teaching. The candidate’s credentials and an applica- tion are sent to Harrisburg, where they are reviewed; if passed, he or she will be granted a temporary certification to teach on a substitute basis. This certification is valid for approximately one year. Dr. Speziale said an emergency certifi- cation can only be used on a day-to-day basis — when teachers would only be filling in for a day or two at a time — and to be able to teach for longer periods, substitute teachers must be fully certi- fied. Furthermore, substitutes with emer- gency certification are only used as a last resort, when regular substitutes are un- available. “It's an alternate way to get qualified subs,” Roberts said of emergency certifi- cation. “The reason there’s a hew and cry is because the people don’t have an edu- cational background, but they do have an industrial or professional back- ground.” Roberts said these substitutes weren't unqualified; they had to have a minimum of a BA and extensive actual experience in their subject area. “If you have a degree in accounting and have worked for 20 years as a CPA, you'd have professional experience, but not teach- ing certification,” he said. “Our goal is always to hire the best possible person for the position,” Dr, Speziale said. “We try to get teachers ir. based on their level and their certificate.” He said the school district tries to get teachers who are certified specifically in the subject they will be substituting in, but if an exact match can’t be found, they try to get one as close as possible. The greatest shortages, Speziale says, are in the subjects of social studies for substi- tute teachers and chemistry and math for full-time teachers. Speziale and Roberts agree the substi, tute situation will get worse before get- ting better. Neither is sure exactly how it can be remedied, but both agree the hiring of unqualified teachers is some- thing their school districts will not resort to, no matter how tough things get. “We would never do anything to jeopardize our kids or the quality of education we believe in,” Dr. Speziale said. Pointless Merger Pickup Truck and Sedan RE BR EY ii
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