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Happy birthday to Victoria Faith Yurkanin!

New contact person named for Robert Yaple Memorial Park

My request, as of early March when this letter was written, is for the Wilkes-Barre Area School District&#8217;s Board of Education to begin the very important responsibility of searching for a superintendent.As a retired superintendent, a city native, a homeowner and grandparent of a child in the system, I am appalled with the condition of a once-outstanding school district. State achievement scores have our students near the bottom of 500 districts; SAT countywide scores have us dead last. Our own half-million-dollar facility study has all nine facilities not meeting state standards, and one historical high school faces the wrecking ball due to neglect.The fiscal picture is another area of failure. It can&#8217;t get much worse unless we consider the storied legal past of the board&#8217;s prior membership and more recent filing of drug and firearms charges against the previous board president.In light of the aforementioned, this district is desperate for qualified leadership &#8211; a proven leader with student achievement, facility and budget experience. It is un-thinkable that we would hire a person who has never reported to a board of education or lacks problem-solving skills in the many areas of concern facing this district.I have always supported hiring from within, but considering the possibility we are the worst district in the county, if not the state, hiring from within could be considered, as the saying goes: If you always do what you always done, you will always get what you always got!I implore you to adopt the committee process now in place for the search for a Luzerne County manager. I would think an action item at the March or April board meeting would be in order.Richard A. HolodickWilkes-Barre

Letter to the Editor: Conduct wide search for Wilkes-Barre Area School District’s next superintendent