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| Tony's Got It What Tony's Got is a gun but still support from a community and students, what he does not have is a job and support from administrators. This is the story gathered from local media, school officials, and district employees day by day. School Board set to decide Sarkis' fate Wednesday March 19 at their meeting, the school board will take a vote deciding to allow Sarkis to resume teaching at Shaler Area High School. The school board is expected to unaminously back Dr. Lee and not allow Sarkis back. Of the nine member school board only seven will attend with two absent. The Shaelr Free Press will report live and have full details first. Gun Finding Teachers Identity revealed! At the trial where Anthony Sarkis' misdemeanor gun charge was dropped by Shaler District Justice Robert P. Dzvonick, three people testified about the gun finding. One was Shaler police detective Michael Heinl, another was Shaler Area High School assistant principal David Shutter and the third was the person who discovered the gun. As the bag lay unattended in the teachers work area somebody stumbled across and decided to look into in. That person was Sociology teacher Ms. Linda Dahl. 15 minutes after the school day had ended, Dahl testified that after finding the gun she took it to the principals office. However Ms. Dahl did support the statement saying that Sarkis did not have the intent under state law to possess the gun on school property because he did not know it was in the backpack when he took it to school. Timeline Wednesday March 19 School Board meeting where a vote will be taken on whether or not to allow Mr. Sarkis to return to Shaler Area. The school board is expected to follow Dr. Lee's recomendation and have him fired. If that is the case then the matter will end up before an arbitrator by agreement on both sides. Friday March 14 KQV Callers back Sarkis. In a phone poll conducted by KQV-Penn telecom 743 people said Sarkis should not be fired as opposed to 545 who said he would. 1,288 calls were recorded. Thursday March 13 Shaler Area District Justic Robert Dzvonick threw out the misdemeanor charge that was brought up against Anthony Sarkis, Thursday morning. Sarkis now has no criminal charges but the school board will still contest a breach of school policy. Wednesday March 12 The School board has overwhelmingly sided with Dr. Lee and is backing the firing of Anthony Sarkis. It appears as though the case will be decided by an arbitrator sometime in the near future. Tuesday March 11 After Superintendent Dr. Lee's recomendation, Anthony Sarkis has decided to have his case heard in front of an arbitrator. This was confirmed by his lawyer, Joseph Yablonski. The Shaler Area School Board now has an oppurtunity to overrule the recomendation of Dr. Lee and keep Sarkis. If not then the case will be heard by an arbitrator. Dr. Lee's recomendation to the school board was that Sarkis be fired because he feared for the safety of the students, which he said was "paramount". Sarkis remains suspended without pay. A preliminary hearing for Sarkis' misdemeanor charge of possession of a weapon on school property will be held Thursday in front of Shaler District Justice Robert Dzvoncik. Tuesday February 18 Anthony Sarkis leaves school for the rest of the week for personal reasons Monday February 24 The first day he returns to school, Sarkis brings a backpack containing a .380 semiauntomatic handgun. After leaving to check messages on his phone, the bag, which was left on a table, was searched by another employee and the gun was then discovered. Along with the gun was was identification of Sarkis. The teacher reported it to school and police officials and Sarkis was immediately suspended. Saturday March 1 The news finally broke on WPXI Channel 11 news. The only news station to carry it. Interviews with Chris Watts and John Bauloris were shown. Tuesday March 4 Sarkis' arraigment in front of Shaler District Justice Robert Dzvonick. After receiving a misdeamanor charge, Sarkis' status went from suspended with pay to suspended without pay, pending termination. Sarkis got off easy with the local media. Headlining the Tribune Reviews City and Region section, a headline reading: Students back gun-packing teacher. The story included positive quotes from Shaler students John the bird man Fries and Justin Schwagno who made the paper without being in the police blotter. The Post-Gazette devoted a small sidebar to the story and mentioned the facts and that it was probably a mistake. Wednesday March 5 Rumors spread throughout Shaler that Sarkis was fired after hearing media reports in the morning. The school has yet to address the students of the matter, (Principal Billy Suit reportedly still trying to stutter through his speech to Ms. Hart) and probably will tell the students nothing. A petition was started in the high school for Sarkis' return by Gregory Plut and Bob Yeager. Superintedent of Shaler School Dr. Lee sounded unwavering in his quest to have Sarkis terminated. Stating that regulatios are usuless unless all people follow them. He called the incident a serious breach and that the most serious measures had to be taken. back home Bring Back Sarkis campaign |
