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PLAINS TWP. — Two topics dominated Monday’s meeting of the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board: communication and consolidation. And the resulting conversations veered substantially from past acrimony.
Most of the seven audience members who spoke urged the board to change the way it deals with the public, including releasing information regarding the ongoing effort to consolidate grades 9-12 of Meyers and Coughlin high schools — a move stalled when the Wilkes-Barre Zoning Hearing Board rejected a district request for variances to build the new school where Coughlin stands.
The district is looking at other sites, and attorney Kim Borland noted that reports by Gary Salijko of Apollo Group Inc, the district’s contracted construction manger, mentioned informational meetings between the board and the four firms hired as the school design team.
While state law allows such meetings in private as long as the board does not deliberate any issues or vote, Borland suggested the information should be presented directly to the public, and the board should raise any questions about it then, not behind closed doors.
Others raised similar issues, with Borland’s wife Ruth — after breaking the tension by saying that, for the first time, she agreed with everything her husband had said — suggesting the board arrange to make information available to the public well before a meeting, rather than at it. Others suggested making it possible for the public to send questions to board members about that material before meetings.
Superintendent Brian Costello agreed it would be helpful, noted he has been trying to answer all questions raised at one meeting during subsequent meetings, and said he is working on a way to increase communication with residents between meetings.
Costello also went into greater detail regarding expected savings from consolidation, showing calculations of how many sections of each course currently exist in both schools, and how many teaching positions for those courses could be cut by upping class size from about 16 students to 22 or 24. He estimated about 18 teaching positions could be cut by attrition if the schools merged and class size could be increased, saving about $100,000 per teacher annually in salary and benefits.
Costello also said about two administrative positions could be cut, saving enough money to offset about $250,000 in increased transportation costs created by consolidation.
During regular business, the board voted to set the last day of school this year at June 9, and approved a 2017-18 calendar that opens classes Sept. 7 and finishes June 6.