The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

August 25, 2008

WM board still balks at payments; Canyon College questions continue

By Patrick W. Connelly

WEST MIDDLESEX — West Middlesex school directors voted Monday to again table payments to teachers for classes taken through an online college not recognized by the state Department of Education.

The district has already reimbursed a total of $19,200 to eight teachers who took classes toward a master’s degree through Web-based Canyon College.

The college has been dubbed a diploma mill by opponents around the country because of its lack of accreditation through an agency approved by the federal government.

“In less than a 10-minute Google you can find out that it has problems all over the United States,” board solicitor Carl Beard said.

Payments of $2,400 a piece to teachers Terry Burger, Michael Janusko and Gerri L. Stitt were put on hold for a second month in a row until a further look is taken into the school’s curriculum, Beard said.

“What it all boils down to is looking at what courses were took,” Beard said. “That’s the issue.”

Beard said he plans to meet with the teachers’ union and Superintendent Alan Baldarelli, who gave approval for 11 teachers to take the classes at the district’s future expense.

Eight teachers were already reimbursed $2,400 each for classes through Canyon before the board began questioning the school.

Canyon College is accredited by two private agencies — the Association for Innovation in Distance Education and the American Naturopathic Medical Association Board, according to its Web site.

Neither of the agencies have been approved by the U.S. Secretary of Education or the Council of Higher Education, a group that polices the quality and effectiveness of the 60 accrediting organizations it recognizes, their Web sites say.

Canyon has since moved its headquarters from Caldwell, Idaho, to a house in Carmichael, Calif.

Teachers were encouraged to take classes by colleagues Mark D. Hogue, a math teacher, and Joseph W. Pasquerilla, board President Thomas Hubert said.

Pasquerilla resigned from the district in May for a principal’s position at North Hills School District near Pittsburgh. He and Hogue were instructors for some of the online courses taken by teachers, Baldarelli said.

Board members Jonathan Fister, Glori Jones and Dale Shrawder voted against tabling the payments.

A retraction of Shrawder’s resignation last month as the board’s vice president was unanimously approved.

The board also granted approval of Hogue’s tenure. School director Deborah Wojtalik voted against the approval.

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