Scranton School Board denies donation of student buses, tickets, pizza for West championship game
Mar. 1—Two potential donors wanted to send hundreds of West Scranton High School and West Scranton Intermediate School students to Friday's district championship basketball game.
Scranton teacher George Roskos, and then his friend Sean Bingham, offered to pay for tickets, buses and a pizza party to support the Invaders as the boys play Abington Heights at 8 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena.
The Scranton School Board denied the donations this week.
"It's the perfect opportunity to build morale," Bingham said Wednesday. "And now how many kids won't be there because of these selfish acts?"
School board President Ro Hume said the timing, incomplete details and the district having to organize the trip led directors to deny the donations.
Roskos emailed his offer Friday, as West took the lead in overtime against Dallas. He offered to pay for a pregame pizza party in the cafeteria, buses to get students to the Wilkes-Barre Twp. arena, game tickets for students and chaperones and a post-game party at Vincenzo's Pizzeria in the event of a victory.
Roskos paid for a similar trip when the West Scranton girls basketball team played in the district championship in 2020, and for a softball game in 2021.
When Roskos learned of the denial Monday, he spoke with Bingham, who made the same offer that evening.
Both filled out donation forms, which the district required.
"The expectation was for the district to organize it and they'd foot the bill," Hume said. "It's not as simple as that."
The district would have needed to hold sign-ups, secure the buses, find chaperones and order pizza. In the future, donations and planning could be done through a booster club, she said.
Hume said the district also had concerns with nutrition guidelines and potentially serving pizza in the school cafeteria prior to the game.
Board Vice President Sean McAndrew said directors took a consensus vote and that he supported the acceptance of both donations.
"Since my time being on the board I never heard of us turning away a donation that benefits our kids," he said.
Both Roskos and Bingham asked the district to bill them for the cost, but Bingham said he would have provided a $10,000 deposit if the district had requested it. Tickets to the game are $8.
Bingham said he believes there is a different reason behind the denials.
Roskos, who teaches physical education in the cyber academy and is a former West baseball coach, received a settlement from the district last year. In exchange for dropping a federal lawsuit and grievances related to the discipline he received after presenting awards to members of West's baseball team, the district paid him $20,500.
"They have a personal vendetta against George Roskos, and they took it out against the kids," Bingham said.
On Wednesday, the district began organizing a bus to get students to Friday's game.
"Regardless of who pays, I hope the students and team have a memorable experience at the arena this weekend. Bleed Blue," Roskos said. "The administration seemed to be in favor. It's unfortunate that some members of the school board decided to make this a newsworthy issue."
Contact the writer:
shofius@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9133;
@hofiushallTT on Twitter.
