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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; During an afternoon tour of Meyers High School hours before a &#8220;community meeting&#8221; there Tuesday, Wilkes-Barre Area Superintendent Brian Costello pointed to rusting beams beneath an overhead walkway and explained why they could restrict crowd size in the gym and alter the fall sports schedule.</p><p>The beams support corrugated metal sheets which are also rusting, and the sheets support a concrete walkway that provides an emergency exit from the gym. The deterioration of metal recently required closing the walkway. Wilkes-Barre city officials are still determining the full impact, but loss of that emergency exit almost certainly means fewer people can be in the gym at any given time.</p><p>The gym &#8220;can hold about 800,&#8221; Costello said. If the city cuts occupancy by too much &#8212; say down to 400 &#8212; &#8220;we may have to change venue for some basketball games.&#8221;</p><p>It&#8217;s just the latest in a litany of problems at the venerable building. Throughout the tour, Costello pointed to cracks of brickwork inside hallways and stairwells, found so frequently that &#8220;now when I walk through, I&#8217;m actually looking for them.&#8221;</p><p>But engineers have pulled away parts of the walls behind those cracks so they could look at the metal beams behind the masonry, and so far have deemed the building structurally sound.</p><p>In one case, cracks are visible in masonry surrounding the same metal beam going from basement to third floor. Costello pointed out how the cracks become more prominent as you go up each level. By the third floor, a brick was loose and the plaster above the brick work &#8212; which runs about 3 feet up from the floor &#8212; had clearly twisted, some of it jutting out over the brick. A window in the same area won&#8217;t close completely, one side shut tight while the other side remains open by about half an inch.</p><p>The concern, Costello said, was the steel beam behind the masonry also twisted, but exposing parts of it on all three floors showed it was still solid and undamaged.</p><p>Similar problems are visible in floor tiling. In some cases, cracks in flooring spider out from the spot where cracked bricks meet the tile. In one instance, two large slabs of hallway tiling separated by a joint had shifted so much one was at least a quarter-inch higher than the other.</p><p>More prominent cracks have small letters printed near them, a sign that those spots are of particular concern as regular inspections are made. Engineers look for changes in the width of the cracks, or if they have lengthened or multiplied.</p><p><strong>&#8216;Door that won&#8217;t open&#8217;</strong></p><p>There are also places in the basement that have been declared off limits all together. Costello showed an area of a former shop room where cinder blocks near the top of a wall had separated and shifted so dramatically they hung out over the rest of the wall below. The same area had a supply closet with &#8220;the door that won&#8217;t open,&#8221; Costello noted. A screwdriver or other tool has to be pushed into a notch at the top of the door and pushed up to leverage the door down to free the upper part of the door from the frame and let it swing open.</p><p>Despite all this, the building is deemed safe for students, Costello stressed. The biggest problem in the last two years has been rapid deterioration of an overhead walkway that runs along the back of the building around to the north side. Part of it, outside the library, was once a walkway at the top of bleachers removed years ago, but much of it has remained in use as an emergency exit for the cafeteria, gym and auditorium.</p><p>The walkway bends around the corner and runs along the side of the building to Carey Street for emergencies. Part of the walkway was deemed unsafe and closed last year, barring an ambulance from using a roadway beneath it to access the Memorial Stadium field. That sparked public outcry when an ambulance crew took 10 minutes to get gear down the steps from River Street to tend to an injured athlete.</p><p>To maintain the walkway as an emergency student exit, a wooden stairway was built down to the stadium field.</p><p>Problems continued when part of the walkway &#8212; not used by students &#8212; that passes over a door to the school near midfield was also found unsafe. A protective shed was built so football players could continue to enter the field from that point, but the deterioration continued.</p><p>Most recently, metal near where the walkway accesses the gymnasium was found to be &#8220;de-laminating,&#8221; prompting closure of the section that students could use to get to the wooden stairs in emergencies. Costello said during an afternoon tour that he is awaiting a ruling by the city on whether losing that emergency exit will mean reducing maximum occupancy, potentially impacting winter sports events in the gym.</p><p>In the evening, Costello greeting about 50 people who had come for the second of three &#8220;community meetings&#8221; this week, gathering them in the school library around 6 p.m. He highlighted some of the progress and problems while answering questions, pointing out that so far all the problems have been with external masonry and that the inside of the building has been deemed sound.</p><p>&#8220;My hope is that this building will last at least five years,&#8221; he said. The district is moving forward with a controversial decision to consolidate grades 9-12 in Meyers and Coughlin high schools into a new building currently planned for Plains Township.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Brian Costello, Wilkes-Barre Area superintendent, points out structural problems in the hallway of Meyers High School on Tuesday.  Sean McKeag | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_TTL083017meyerstour1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Brian Costello, Wilkes-Barre Area superintendent, points out structural problems in the hallway of Meyers High School on Tuesday.  Sean McKeag | Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_TTL083017meyerstour2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Meyers High School has structural damage as seen by this split in the brick wall of the school's interior. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_TTL083017meyerstour2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Meyers High School has structural damage as seen by this split in the brick wall of the school's interior. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_TTL083017meyerstour3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Christopher Evans, 20, and mother Jean Evans, of Hanover Township, look through a window at Meyers High School during a public tour Tuesday led by Wilkes-Barre Area Superintendent Brian Costello. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_TTL083017meyerstour3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Christopher Evans, 20, and mother Jean Evans, of Hanover Township, look through a window at Meyers High School during a public tour Tuesday led by Wilkes-Barre Area Superintendent Brian Costello. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_TTL083017meyerstour4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Brian Costello, Wilkes-Barre Area superintedent, center, gives a public tour of Meyers High School. The tour was intended to give a first-hand look at the structural damage to the school. Sean McKeag | Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_TTL083017meyerstour4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Brian Costello, Wilkes-Barre Area superintedent, center, gives a public tour of Meyers High School. The tour was intended to give a first-hand look at the structural damage to the school. Sean McKeag | 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>

For want of an emergency exit, Meyers gym games may move