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Everhart Museum and American Wine Society to hold evening of Movie Clips & Cocktail Tasting in Scranton

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Inside the area’s newest school - the Bear Creek Community Charter School

The group fighting to keep three high schools in Wilkes-Barre Area has scheduled a meeting open to the public for Dec. 9, and the agenda includes discussing the possibility of filing a complaint with the state Department of Education, the organization&#8217;s new president said.&#8220;The key thing will be to talk about formally submitting a complaint,&#8221; said Richard Holodick, who added that several members of the Save Our Schools organization have been researching that option.Holodick said SOS has been meeting regularly since it was formed and incorporated earlier this year in response to the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board&#8217;s decision to close Meyers and Coughlin high schools and merge grades nine through 12 into a new building at the Coughlin site. He said he was elected president at the last meeting.He stressed, as others in the group have, that SOS is not about saving the venerable Meyers building. The focus is on keeping three smaller, neighborhood schools rather than building one larger one at an estimated cost of $75 million or more.&#8220;SOS promotes what is best for the students with a plan that the taxpayers can afford through a project-phasing procedure,&#8221; according to a written announcement of the Dec. 9 meeting.&#8220;SOS disagrees with building a consolidated, 2,400-student high school on a one-way, narrow street, on a footprint just over three acres; a plan that, in particular, discriminates against GAR, a school with a large number of disadvantaged students. SOS does support the need to replace Coughlin High School.&#8221;While the idea of a complaint is still being researched, Holodick said the issue regarding GAR students could be the basis for one. Several SOS members have voiced concern that a new school would leave GAR students with poorer facilities than the students at the new school will have.GAR also has the highest percentage of economically disadvantaged students (79.4 percent) of the three high schools, and the highest percentage of minority students (more than 63 percent), adding a potential charge of discrimination to any complaint.SOS will meet at 6 p.m. and will look for public input at 7 p.m. at the Polish Veterans of America Club, 2 S. Oak St. in Plains Township, Holodick said. The 6 p.m. meeting is also open to the public.And while the group is looking for broader support throughout the district, this meeting was set up in the township to draw residents there.&#8220;We want to encourage the people of Plains to attend,&#8221; Holodick said. &#8220;We wanted to put it in their neighborhood and say &#8216;tell us what your problems and concerns are.&#8217;&#8221;<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Mark Guydishmguydish@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</shirttailMeta></div>

Group working to keep three W-B Area high schools sets public meeting