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Luzerne County Council rejects proposed ordinance targeting sexual orientation discrimination

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212;Tuesday&#8217;s Wilkes-Barre Area School Board meeting ended with Solicitor Ray Wendolowski announcing charges for cause of dismissal will be forwarded to Coughlin High School teacher Brian Hampel. The meeting also included approval of a new contract for the next superintendent, Brian Costello.</p><p>But before all that, the meeting was mostly about high school consolidation and an alternative proposal from the Save Our Schools group.</p><p>Wendolowski declined further comment on Hampel, noting only that the notice of charges was the first step in possible dismissal.</p><p>Hampel testified at the trial of former Coughlin Dean of Students Stephen Stahl, who was convicted in 2015 of having sex with an underage student. Hampel, whose basement classroom neighbored Stahl&#8217;s, was the only Coughlin teacher interviewed by law enforcement in the case. The victim accused Hampel of serving as lookout for Stahl during her encounters with Stahl.</p><p>The contract with Costello, who assumes the superintendent&#8217;s post Sept. 1, is for five years at a starting salary of $148,000. It will increase annually by no more than 2.5 percent, with the exact increase tied to a limit on property tax increases set each year by the state. The contract was approved unanimously, with Board Member John Quinn absent.</p><p>But the night was primarily about SOS, which had gained approval from the board for meeting time to publicly present its argument against current consolidation plans.</p><p>Attorney Ruth Borland said SOS got the meeting time, in part, because she and three members of her family &#8212; constant fixtures at the podium in recent months during public comment &#8212; had agreed not to speak Tuesday night. &#8220;With four of us, that&#8217;s 20 minutes,&#8221; she said, referring to the board policy limiting public comment to five minutes.</p><p>Dr. Mark Schiowitz got to use those 20 minutes, and then some, to present the SOS argument that the board should drop plans to consolidate grades 9 through 12 at Meyers and Coughlin high schools into a new school built on the Coughlin site. SOS was formed in an attempt to save the current three high school system.</p><p>Schiowitz outlined the SOS proposal: Constructing a smaller new high school with grades seven through 12 on or near property housing the Solomon/Plains campus and renovating Meyers and GAR high schools over time.</p><p>Schiowitz argued the alternative plan is simpler than the consolidation and that it maintains smaller neighborhood schools. The plan also would decrease the odds of people leaving the district or of someone opening a charter school that would siphon students from the district, Schiowitz suggested, noting there has been talk of both.</p><p>Schiowitz also noted the alternative plan eliminates the need for expansion of Kistler Elementary School to house grades seven and eight now in Meyers, and it eliminates a plan to purchase or lease the Times Leader building on property adjacent to Coughlin.</p><p>Panzitta Enterprises has proposed that it would buy the newspaper building, renovate it into classroom space, and lease it to the district at a total cost of about $13 million over 20 years. The immediate idea would be to house two grades from Coughlin in the renovated building while Coughlin is razed and the new building erected. The other two grades are at a recently renovated Mackin Elementary building</p><p>The SOS plan calls for converting the Solomon/Plains school, currently with kindergarten through grade eight, to a k-6 school. That would make the the district uniform in having all k-6 and 7-12 schools, Schiowitz said.</p><p>Schiowitz presented broad estimates suggesting that, when renovations of GAR Memorial High School and expansion of Heights Murray Elementary School &#8212; both have been discussed briefly by the board but no action has been taken &#8212; the alternative plan would save about $40 million.</p><p>&#8220;In our desire to improve and our quest to modernize,&#8221; Schiowitz concluded, &#8220;let&#8217;s not emulate those who failed or destroy the things we do well.&#8221;</p><p>After the presentation, board members asked multiple questions, with both sides generally cordial, continuing a recent thaw in relations between SOS and the board.</p><p>Things grew testy when Kyle Kinsman of WKL Architects &#8212; one of four firms that make up the district&#8217;s &#8220;design team&#8221; on the project &#8212; reiterated his contention that renovations of Meyers would require additional bracing against potential seismic activity, adding about $27 million or more to the cost.</p><p>Kinsman repeated his argument that city officials have said the bracing would be required with the scope of work necessary at Meyers, but Attorney Kim Borland argued that bracing wasn&#8217;t necessary at three other projects in Wilkes-Barre, including two Kinsman worked on.</p><p>Borland argued Kinsman was contradicting himself by saying Meyers would need bracing while the others didn&#8217;t. &#8220;I&#8217;m not going to let you get away with that.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know the law,&#8221; Kinsman countered, &#8220;I know the building code.&#8221;</p><p>After the meeting, Schiowitz said he suspected &#8220;you haven&#8217;t heard the end of the seismic bracing question&#8221; because it was not a black-and-white issue, but that overall the chance to make the presentation was a step forward as SOS and the board look for common ground.</p><p>Kim Borland agreed. &#8220;We have a gap in agreement on the facts, but the gap is narrowing,&#8221; he said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre Area School Board President Joseph Caffrey takes a picture with his phone of Dr. Mark Schiowitz&#8217;s PowerPoint presentation on saving the the three city high schools during Tuesday&#8217;s school board meeting at Solomon/Plains Education Complex. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_sosmeeting01.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wilkes-Barre Area School Board President Joseph Caffrey takes a picture with his phone of Dr. Mark Schiowitz&#8217;s PowerPoint presentation on saving the the three city high schools during Tuesday&#8217;s school board meeting at Solomon/Plains Education Complex. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_sosmeeting02.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dr. Mark Schiowitz of the coalition of Save Our Schools gives a PowerPoint presentation on saving the the three city high schools during Tuesday&#8217;s school board meeting at Solomon/Plains Education Complex. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_sosmeeting02.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dr. Mark Schiowitz of the coalition of Save Our Schools gives a PowerPoint presentation on saving the the three city high schools during Tuesday&#8217;s school board meeting at Solomon/Plains Education Complex. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></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>

W-B Area starts proceedings against teacher, gives SOS meeting time