Whether a $400,000 printing press and cutting machine are capital expenses could determine whether the Riverside School District is able to leave the Career Technology Center of Lackawanna County.
The center and the district presented their arguments on Wednesday in a nonjury trial in front of Lackawanna County Judge Robert Mazzoni. Attorneys for Riverside argued the district was free to leave the CTC because there were no financial obligations keeping the district in the consortium. Attorneys for the CTC disagreed, citing several obligations, including the printing press and the district's shares of the 2012-13 budget and $18.1 million renovation project.
Judge Mazzoni ordered the sides to submit post-hearing briefs 30 days after transcripts are available. The judge will issue a ruling after the briefs are submitted.
In August, Riverside filed suit against the CTC, seeking to leave the consortium and send its students to the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center in Plains Twp. About 25 of the approximately 40 vocational students chose to stay at the Lackawanna CTC.
In its lawsuit, Riverside cited concerns with the $18.1 million yet-to-be-started renovation project and that being part of the CTC was not the "best way of providing vocational and technical education to the students it serves."
Riverside was a founding district of the CTC in 1968. Districts share costs, based on enrollment in the center and other factors, to keep the CTC in operation. Students spend half their day in their district schools and the other half at the CTC. Each district appoints one school board member to the CTC board.
In October, the CTC and its member districts - Carbondale Area, Dunmore, Forest City Regional, Lakeland, Mid Valley, North Pocono, Scranton and Valley View - filed a lawsuit in response to the Riverside suit, alleging the district is still obligated to pay for its share of the $18.1 million renovation project.
The lawsuit also alleges that Riverside is obligated to pay its share of the 2012-13 budget, and violated state law when it moved its students to a different technical school without state approval.
Judge Mazzoni combined both cases for the nonjury trial.
In court Wednesday, Riverside claimed it is no longer obligated to be part of the CTC because at the time the lawsuit was filed, no capital expenditures were outstanding - a key part of the school's article of agreement that keeps districts in the consortium.
Riverside Superintendent David Woods spent nearly three hours on the stand Wednesday, explaining that for several years, district officials sought another vocational option for their students. Several solicitors and school superintendents of districts in the consortium sat in the back of the courtroom.
CTC Administrative Director Vincent Nallo and former Chief Financial Officer Michael Sporer, who remains as a financial consultant for the CTC, also testified, explaining that there were financial obligations to keep Riverside in the center.
Contact the writer: shofius@timesshamrock.com, @hofiushallTT on Twitter