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Crash in Forkston Twp. leads to hospitalization of one

Winter LEGO Club at Hoyt Library

WILKES-BARRE &#8212;The death of Meyers High School 2015 graduate and former homecoming queen Tashandra Burton continues to ripple through the Wilkes-Barre Area School District. Superintendent Bernard Prevuznak said a public meeting scheduled for Monday evening was postponed so people could attend a service for Burton.The board had set an informational meeting for 6 p.m. Monday to go over options for Coughlin High School students during planned construction of a new school and to solicit public input. After receiving multiple calls Monday morning, Prevuznak said the decision was made to push the meeting to Tuesday night at the same time.&#8220;It became more and more evident this was definitely a loss to the Mohawk community, very sorrowful,&#8221; Prevuznak said. &#8220;We got many requests from people who wanted to attend (the meeting) but who asked for consideration in honoring this lady.&#8221;Burton, who had been studying occupational therapy at Keystone College, died following a car crash Jan. 25. According to state police, she lost control of a Chevrolet Cobalt while driving east along U.S. Routes 6 and 11 in La Plume Township around 9:40 a.m. that day.The vehicle travelled across the grass median into the westbound lanes and collided with a Volkswagen Jetta. Burton, 19, and front-seat passenger Michael Burkhardt, 20, were pronounced dead at the hospital.&#8220;I have to tell you that young lady&#8217;s impact was tremendous,&#8221; Prevuznak said. &#8220;Her life has had a direct influence on students beyond Meyers. She had many friends from Coughlin and GAR (Memorial High School).&#8221;School board plans call for razing Coughlin this summer and beginning construction on a new high school that would consolidate grades nine through 12 currently at Meyers and Coughlin.Half the Coughlin students have already been moved to the renovated Mackin school building, which was shown off to the public during an open house Sunday, an event that included a first glimpse of drawings of the proposed new school, which the board hopes can be completed by 2019.Mackin can hold about half of Coughlin&#8217;s enrollment. The other half is currently restricted to the newer annex section of Coughlin. The original building, more than a century old and deemed structurally unsafe, has been vacated and is off limits.The board has considered three options during construction: Keep half the students at Mackin and buy modular classrooms for the other half, set up split schedules so half would attend Mackin in the morning and the other half in the evening or rent a building for several years for half the students.Panzitta Enterprises has proposed buying the Times Leader building on South Main Street adjacent to the Coughlin property and converting it to school space, then leasing it for 20 years to the district. The district would own the building after that.The newspaper&#8217;s parent company Civitas Media is consolidating workers at the building on Market Street that houses offices and the printing press.Asked at the Mackin open house if he had a feel for which way the board is leaning, board member Shawn Walker said he suspects a vote may be close between the idea of split schedules and the Panzitta offer. The board could take action at its next regular meeting on Feb. 8.<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>

Grad’s funeral service prompts Wilkes-Barre Area School Board to move Monday meeting to Tuesday