The Herald, Sharon, PA Published Monday, April 2, 2001

NEW WILMINGTON

District billed for listing that’s not in directory

By Pam Mansell
Herald Writer

Two weeks ago, Wilmington Area School District was frustrated with Verizon because the district’s new telephone number hadn’t made it into the company’s directory and wasn’t available on telephone recordings to the old number or by request from information at 555-1212.

Verizon representatives resolved the recording problem and said they were working on the other parts of that problem, said school Superintendent Dr. Michael Hink.

Now though, Hink has another issue with Verizon: a merger of the former Bell Atlantic and GTE.

He wants to know why the district, with its main office and three schools in New Wilmington, is being charged $15.59 for a listing in Verizon’s New Wilmington phone book.

According to Hink’s account of his conversations with John Bragg, manager of external affairs at Verizon, the charge, which includes tax for the tax-exempt entity, is because the district’s new number is 656-8866. That’s an exchange that used to be part of Bell Atlantic. The 946 New Wilmington exchanges were part of GTE.

Hink said he was prepared to pay the small charge when the district got the bill a few weeks ago, until maintenance supervisor Steve Singer pointed out that the district has five other numbers that are 946 exchanges: one is a fax number, one is for computer connections and three are accessed through the 656-8866 main number.

If the district still has 946 numbers, why then, Hink wondered, should the district have to pay anything, no matter how small the amount, to be listed in the New Wilmington phone book?

"We know it’s just a small amount of money," Hink said, "but it’s the principle of the thing." Besides, he said, "We’re a school system, not a for-profit business. Utilities usually give school systems a break."

Hink said Friday he has so far spent a few hours trying to explain the district’s position to Verizon employees and has gotten nowhere. He said one response from the phone company is that the 656 number can’t just be listed along with the other 946 numbers because "that’s the other side of Verizon."

"I don’t have a clue what that means," Hink said. "If it’s called Verizon, why isn’t it all Verizon?"

And this isn’t the first time he’s gotten the "that’s the other side of Verizon" response, Hink said. He’s already been told that, when the 2001-02 New Castle area phone directory comes out, it will have the school district address as Pulaski, even though it’s in New Wilmington.

"That’s the rule, they told me," Hink said of his conversations with the phone company. "They said that because it’s a 656 exchange, which is in Pulaski, it has to say Pulaski. And I had to plead with them even to list the school district. They wanted to list just the Pulaski Elementary School."

A spokesman for Verizon said Friday afternoon that the company is working to resolve the issue.



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