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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Bob Sypniewski, GAR High School graduate of 1994, came forward at Monday&#8217;s Wilkes-Barre Area School Board meeting as the self-described &#8220;mysterious person&#8221; willing to help save the district&#8217;s three high school system with a massive cash loan for renovation or construction.</p><p>&#8220;Hopefully I wasn&#8217;t a disappointment as to who the mystery person was,&#8221; he told a crowd packed into Kistler Elementary School&#8217;s Large Group Instruction Room, evoking laughs.</p><p>Sypniewski outlined a terse bio of growing up &#8220;in Wilkes-Barre the fifteenth of 16 children raised on a police officer&#8217;s salary.&#8221; He said after graduating high school, God &#8220;blessed me with the ability to get out there and be a capitalist. I landed with a group of people who were very wealthy, much more than I was.&#8221;</p><p>Repeatedly declining to provide any specifics about the people behind the money, Sypniewski said his group &#8220;could offer 100 percent funding based on district numbers, and do renovations&#8221; or build new schools.</p><p>&#8220;We would not own the buildings, we do not want to run your buildings,&#8221; he said. The district would pay back the money over two or three decades, similar to what happens when the School Board floats a bond, but Sypniewski said he couldn&#8217;t provide an interest rate until the details were worked out.</p><p>He touted the investors making the offer as a group that has spent years investigating &#8220;how a private entity comes together with a public entity,&#8221; and that in the last two years they have put $500 million into things like affordable care centers, parking garages, and university construction.</p><p><strong>&#8216;Off book&#8217; project</strong></p><p>Unlike issuing a bond, the project would be &#8220;off book&#8221; for the district for accounting purposes, not added to district debt, Sypniewski said. The investors would take control of the project, deciding which architects and contractors to hire, but working with the district to fill its needs.</p><p>Superintendent Bernard Prevuznak said he met informally with Sypniewski earlier in the day for about two hours and explained the district&#8217;s situation, particularly stressing that even if the district could renovate or replace all three high schools, it can&#8217;t afford to keep running three buildings on a yearly basis.</p><p>Prevuznak said the meeting was very cordial, but that Sypniewski did not offer any details of his proposal. Those details will be provided to the board during an &#8220;informational meeting&#8221; some time next week, Prevuznak said, when they will meet with Sypniewski and some of his other investors.</p><p>Sypniewski is also expected to unveil more details at meeting at Genetti&#8217;s Hotel and Convention Center in Wilkes-Barre Aug. 30 at 2 p.m.</p><p>Sypniewski ended his brief overview presentation to the School Board by casually showing his personal connections, thanking Board Member Joe Caffrey as a former coach, praising Board Member Dino Gallela as a &#8220;mentor&#8221; during his years at GAR, and boasting that his High School team beat a team Board Member Shawn Walker was on the last time they played.</p><p>The connections run deeper than that. Prevuznak said he knew several members of Sypniewski&#8217;s family and &#8220;I believe I graduated with his brother.&#8221; District Security Director Brian Lavan said he served on the Wilkes-Barre police force with Sypniewski&#8217;s father. Galella said he had coached several of Sypniewski&#8217;s brothers.</p><p>Sypniewski was the last of 16 audience members who spoke at the start of the meeting. Most chastised the board for its plan to close Meyers and Coughlin High Schools and consolidate grades nine through 12 into a new building at the Coughlin site. Kistler elementary would be expanded to house Meyers seventh and eight grade students.</p><p>Several people lauded the board for its decision and said they supported it, including Ed Pomanek, who suggested the board go further and consolidate all three high schools. Currently GAR is to remain open as a high school. Pomanek estimated a single high school would save the district up to $10 million a year.</p><p><strong>Evans apologizes</strong></p><p>While Sypniewski was the clear center of the evening, drawing enthusiastic applause, there were other emotional high water marks. Board Member Ned Evans broke into tears apologizing for his recent DUI arrest, admitting &#8220;I have a problem,&#8221; and that he had been sober for two-and-a-half years before falling of the wagon.</p><p>&#8220;I let a lot of people down,&#8221; Evans said. &#8220;I paid a hefty price. I struggle, but I&#8217;m going to do it this time.&#8221; The crowd gave him a standing ovation.</p><p>Terry Shiowitz announced the formation of a new &#8220;legal entity&#8221; dubbed Save Our Schools,&#8221; which is involved in the Aug. 30 meeting. &#8220;We believe the options for maintaining our historic neighborhood schools have not been considered,&#8221; Shiowitz said. &#8220;As a challenged community, we must get this right.&#8221;</p><p>And Diane Lorenzotti, a secretary in the district, alleged that she had been told a board member had questioned her motives for showing up and board meetings. Noting it doesn&#8217;t matter because she is &#8220;retiring this year,&#8221; Lorenzotti warned the board that &#8220;if everything is above board you don&#8217;t have to be afraid of us employees coming. Now you have to be afraid, because I&#8217;m watching you.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre Area School District Superintendent Dr. Bernard Prevuznak, right, responds to the proposal by Bob Sypniewski about a plan to privately fund the renovation of the city high schools Monday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_TTL081115wbsinvestor_mg_2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wilkes-Barre Area School District Superintendent Dr. Bernard Prevuznak, right, responds to the proposal by Bob Sypniewski about a plan to privately fund the renovation of the city high schools Monday night. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_TTL081115wbsinvestor_mg_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre City Councilman George Brown addresses the Wilkes-Barre Area Board of Education at its meeting at Kistler Elementary School on Monday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_TTL081115wbsinvestor_mg_3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wilkes-Barre City Councilman George Brown addresses the Wilkes-Barre Area Board of Education at its meeting at Kistler Elementary School on Monday night. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_TTL081115wbsinvestor_mg_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">GAR graduate Bob Sypniewski addresses the Wilkes-Barre Area Board of Education about a plan to fund the renovation of the city high schools with private funds and keep the three-school system during the board meeting at Kistler Elementary School on Monday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_TTL081115wbsinvestor_mg_1.jpg</photo2><caption2>GAR graduate Bob Sypniewski addresses the Wilkes-Barre Area Board of Education about a plan to fund the renovation of the city high schools with private funds and keep the three-school system during the board meeting at Kistler Elementary School on Monday night. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Sypniewski mum on specifics, however</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Group presents plan to save Wilkes-Barre Area’s three-high school system