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WILKES-BARRE — Students gathered more than 60 strong Friday morning in front of the Wilkes-Barre Area School District building to protest for a third consecutive day against program cuts, but their numbers dwindled to 10 shortly after noon. Which meant that only a handful got to hear school board member Ned Evans promise he will propose a new plan to restore art programs.

“I want to keep the arts where they are,” Evans told the students after emerging from the administration building and urging them to gather around him. He said he’s looking for cuts in supplies, and “cuts in other things besides important entities like the arts.

“I’m working on it right now with the business manager,” Evans said. “I will make a proposal at the June 28 meeting to come up with this money so you can keep the arts in this district. Pray for me.”

Evans left without giving details, but he’ll have to come up with a lot of savings. The four programs — art, industrial arts, library services and family and consumer sciences — employ about 37 teachers, and the cuts save well above $2 million in salaries.

Overall, the board is trying to save $4 million in the 2016-17 budget, part of a “pathway to the future” that calls for up to $11 million in cuts in the next four years.

Evans was the lone board member Monday to vote against suspending the programs at a marathon school board meeting highlighted by emotional appeals to keep the programs and the teachers.

Coughlin High School students were the first to launch an out-of-school protest Wednesday that some said was intended to last only briefly before they returned to class. About 40 students decided to march to the administration building and stayed there for hours.

On Thursday, several dozen Meyers High School students began a protest outside their school, walked to the administration building and then to GAR Memorial High School, where they chanted for more than an hour before returning to the administration building. They declared it “Art Day.”

Friday found a few GAR students outside the administration building as early as 8:30 a.m. Their numbers swelled to more than 60 with the arrival of a contingent from Meyers. One sign dubbed the crowd “the art gang”

Quinton Yachera, a junior, said he helped organize the protest. “We’re fighting to get our classes back,” Yachera said, promising the protests will continue.

Preston Perkins, also a junior, said the students are already planning another protest next Wednesday.

Superintendent Bernard Prevuznak encouraged students on Wednesday and Thursday to return to class because their actions were an “unexcused absence” from class.

Prevuznak also cautioned seniors not to jeopardize their chance to attend graduation ceremonies June 10, but in an interview later said that would be a last resort.

“Parents and loved ones alike wait an entire lifetime to see their children walk across the stage at their respective schools, and I want that to happen for these people,” he said.

Holding graduation attendance privileges against students skipping class to protest, he said, “would be a drastic measure.”

Meyers High School Junior Preston Perkins sports a sign with a quote attributed to Winston Churchill during the third consecutive day of student protests outside the Wilkes-Barre Area School District Administration building.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_protest-2.jpg.optimal.jpgMeyers High School Junior Preston Perkins sports a sign with a quote attributed to Winston Churchill during the third consecutive day of student protests outside the Wilkes-Barre Area School District Administration building. Mark Guydish | Times Leader

Meyers High School students gather to protest program cuts Friday.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_20160527_084446_resized-3.jpg.optimal.jpgMeyers High School students gather to protest program cuts Friday. Mark Guydish | Times Leader

More than 60 students gathered Friday outside the Wilkes-Barre Area School District administration building to protest program cuts. It was the third consecutive day of student protests, and some promised more next week.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_protest-1.jpg.optimal.jpgMore than 60 students gathered Friday outside the Wilkes-Barre Area School District administration building to protest program cuts. It was the third consecutive day of student protests, and some promised more next week. Mark Guydish | Times Leader

By Mark Guydish

[email protected]

Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish

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