SHARON SCHOOLS Board criticizes group-home plan

People living in the area are upset and should be heard, a director said.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- A plan to put a group home for male juvenile sex offenders from Allegheny County at East State Street and Strawbridge Avenue is getting a less than warm reception from the city school board.
"I think it's a disgrace," director Rick Mancino said at a board work session Wednesday, pointing out the location is less than a block from Sharon Junior/Senior High School and Case Avenue Elementary School.
Superintendent Donna DeBonis said she attended a meeting on the proposal with some county officials last week but that the school district has made no commitment to provide any educational support for people housed at the facility.
The home, which would initially house up to 12 offenders, would be run by a group called Phoenix Youth Services.
Mercer County Children & amp; Youth Services, which is required by the state to comment on the plan, identified the principals as Michael Sember of Hermitage and Regis Salaga, whose address wasn't immediately available.
What's already done
School director Pamela Corini said the Sharon schools are already responsible for providing education for young people from Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) who have been discharged from various institutions and are living in group homes scattered around Sharon.
She said she has a problem being asked to take on that responsibility.
She also said that although the proposed group home would house 12 young people, she learned that as many as 50 could be eligible to live there.
People living near the site "are not real happy about this," said school director Dom Russo. "They have a right to be heard."
The group home hasn't been issued a license yet, so there's still time to protest the plan, he said.
"No one that I talked to is happy about this situation," Russo said, adding that there is power in the people, whether it be in the courts or marching around the proposed site with picket signs.
The people behind this should "take heed," he advised, adding, "They're going to get nothing but grief."
Revised plan
The group home plan originally involved sending the offenders into the Sharon schools for their education, according to Children & amp; Youth, but it has since been revised to provide private education at the group home using a teacher and an aide.
The best approach is to stop it before it starts, said Melvin Bandzak, school board president.
Mayor David O. Ryan said two weeks ago that he was aware of the proposal and would do everything in his power to stop it from becoming a reality.
If the offenders are from Allegheny County, they should be kept in Allegheny County, he said.
gwin@vindy.com