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B-C superintendent seeks entry into probation program

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The Bethlehem-Center School District superintendent accused of driving drunk when she crashed into another car near her South Fayette Township home in December hopes to enter a special probation program for first-time offenders.

Linda Marcolini, 56, is expected to enter the program after a hearing May 15, which enables people to get their arrest records expunged if they complete probation without incident, usually for about a year.

Marcolini’s defense attorney, Charles Porter, did not immediately return a call for comment Monday on the request, which was announced at her formal arraignment Friday in Allegheny County Court.

South Fayette Township police said Marcolini’s blood-alcohol content was 0.174, more than twice the state’s legal limit to operate a motor vehicle, after she crashed into a car on Oakridge Road about 6:30 p.m. Dec. 12. She also faces a citation for failure to keep right of the center line. A reckless driving citation was withdrawn.

At the scene of the crash, Marcolini was chewing gum to mask alcohol on her breath and told different stories about how the accident occurred, but she eventually told officers she had two glasses of wine and was attempting to make a phone call when she lost control of her vehicle, police said.

Marcolini took a few weeks off work with pay after her Dec. 12 arrest became public in mid-January, school officials previously said. She was hired at Beth-Center at a base salary of $100,000, and she is due to earn $123,866 in the district’s fiscal year ending in June 2017.

She remains free on an unsecured bond.

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