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Hourigan, Kluger & Quinn Named to 2017 ‘Best Law Firms’

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Police: Chase ends with a crash involving school van

<p>Even if you believe the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board is heading in the right direction by consolidating Meyers and Coughlin high schools &#8212; and there are good arguments for the move &#8212; it&#8217;s hard to watch the decision-making process and not think of that classic amusement park ride: &#8220;bumper cars.&#8221;</p><p><em>OK, we&#8217;re going to just head straight over there &#8212; </em></p><p><em>BUMP!</em></p><p><em>Right &#8230; Say, that spot looks perfect &#8212; </em></p><p><em>BUMP!</em></p><p><em>Well, now that I see it, let&#8217;s head to &#8212; </em></p><p><em>BUMP!</em></p><p>In fairness to the current board members, this is not a problem of their making. As this paper has regularly shown, the district has talked about the need to renovate or replace the aging high schools for 15 years or more. At least this group decided to tackle the problem, rather than punt it to the next decade.</p><p>And if this has been a bumpy ride, it is in part the result of forces outside the board&#8217;s control. For years Harrisburg has been unable to get the state&#8217;s school construction reimbursement system in order, making financing such a mammoth project hard to calculate.</p><p>And if you take the district consultants at their word, the buildings &#8212; particularly Coughlin &#8212; had been allowed to deteriorate so badly that there wasn&#8217;t enough time to mull every facet of the project before setting things in motion, forcing some decisions to be made more or less on the fly.</p><p>Still, it has been more than five years since the board first approved a feasibility study to determine what could be done with Meyers, a study that was expanded &#8212; arguably the first of those &#8220;bumps&#8221; &#8212; to look at buildings district-wide, ultimately leading to the current consolidation plan.</p><p>A design team was hired, internal and external task forces were formed, many options were on the table, and yet the choices were dramatically scaled down after a financial review suggested anything costing more than $100 million or so would be too difficult for the district coffers to cover.</p><p>Bump!</p><p>Where to put Coughlin students during construction? Purchase of modular classrooms was OK&#8217;d but never executed (bump!), approval was sought and gained from the state for split scheduling but never implemented (bump!), Panzitta Enterprises offered to buy the Times Leader building on N. Main St., renovate it into classrooms and lease it to the district, but efforts to get zoning approval from the city have been deferred twice (bump! bump!).</p><p>And what of Meyers? A promise was made to keep using the stadium, but the board voted to build another stadium in Plains Township (bump!). The building was to be unused, but a proposal to save the elegant auditorium and create a performing arts magnet school is under review (bump!).</p><p>Give the board credit for keeping at it. But with abundant questions &#8212; the fate of GAR Memorial, crowding at elementary schools, inconsistent grade configurations, to name a few &#8212; this may be a good time to take a step back, review what has gone right and wrong, then draw up a more comprehensive plan for what&#8217;s next.</p><p>There&#8217;s a reason bumper cars don&#8217;t leave the park.</p><style>
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Rethink WB Area’s bumpy ride