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Penn State’s Saquon Barkley earns third team All-America honors

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LCCC representatives participate in Ruth’s Place Walk

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Luzerne County Judge Lisa Gelb upheld an order by the state Office of Open Records requiring Wilkes-Barre Area School District to provide plans and specifications for both the completed renovations of the Mackin building and the proposed consolidated high school that was to be built where Coughlin High School sits.</p><p>Gelb issued a 25-page ruling and order that recapped the year-long legal battle over release of the plans sought by Attorney Kimberly Borland through a Right To Know request submitted to the district Dec. 2, 2015.</p><p>The district rejected the request on grounds that releasing the plans would put students and staff at risk by letting potential attackers know locations of critical elements including load-bearing walls and the heating/ventilation systems. The district also argued the plans at this stage were proprietary and belonged to the firms drawing them up.</p><p>Borland appealed the decision to the state Office of Open Records, which ruled in his favor, contending the district provide no proof of risk to people in the buildings, and that the proprietary argument does not legally apply. OOR ruled in Borland&#8217;s favor.</p><p>The district appealed that ruling to Luzerne County Court, with a hearing held before Gelb Dec. 2 of this year. Borland opened his remarks at the hearing by noting the anniversary of the original RTK request.</p><p>Both sides presented essentially the same arguments, with District Solicitor Ray Wendolowski contending the detailed plans could be used for terrorist attacks &#8212; allowing denial of the disclosure under the RTK law&#8217;s &#8220;personal security exemption.&#8221;</p><p>Wendolowski noted affidavits submitted to OOR in defending the denial were patterned after similar affidavits submitted by another school district in a similar case. In that case, the district was allowed to withhold requested plans.</p><p>Borland argued the district had failed to present any evidence the risk exists. He noted the district publicizes bus routes, lunch menus and names of contracted vendors, all of which could be used to arrange an attack, yet there is no evidence attacks were done using such knowledge.</p><p>Gelb ruled the district &#8220;failed to meet its burden for invoking the personal security exemption because it demonstrated only a possible, rather than reasonably likely, risk of harm to persons within the school.</p><p>&#8220;To demonstrate this lack of evidence,&#8221; Gelb wrote, &#8220;consider that the vast majority of the information in a construction plan is readily ascertainable upon visual inspection of the constructed building. (The district) operates many existing schools that thousands of people have observed from both the outside and in fro over 100 years; still, it cannot provide any examples of the harms it identifies.&#8221;</p><p>Gelb also ruled the district failed to prove it&#8217;s contention that the plans were proprietary.</p><p>The accompanying order affirms the OOR decision and requires the documents be provided to Borland within 25 days. The district could appeal the ruling.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Gelb-1.jpg">
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<div class="neCaption">Kim Borland</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Borland-Kim-2.jpeg</photo1><caption1>Kim Borland</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/WBA-RTK-order-12-12-16-1.pdf">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/WBA-RTK-order-12-12-16-1.pdf</photo2><caption2></caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Wendolowski-Ray-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre Area School District Assistant Solicitor Raymond Wendolowski.  BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Wendolowski-Ray-2.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wilkes-Barre Area School District Assistant Solicitor Raymond Wendolowski.  BILL TARUTIS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER</caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></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>

Luzerne County Judge orders W-B Area to release high school plans and specifications